5 DyCMs, Dalit woman as Home Minister: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s on a roll

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy assumed charge of his office at state secretariat on Sturday, days after his resounding victory in the state assembly elections.

The YSRCP leader was welcomed by the employees of various departments in the Secretariat who stood in queues and welcomed him with garlands and bouquets. 

Shortly after that, the Chief Minister constituted his cabinet with 25 ministers. designated five newly-inducted ministers as Deputy Chief Ministers in line with the announcement he made at the YSR Congress Legislature Party meeting on Friday.

He sprang another surprise on Saturday by naming a Dalit woman as the Home minister of the state.

Mekathoti Sucharita, who represents Prathipadu (SC) reserved constituency in Guntur district, was sworn in as a cabinet minister, along with 24 others at a glittering ceremony held on the lawns of state secretariat at Velagapudi in Amaravati.

The Chief Minister also allotted portfolios to all the 25 new ministers who were sworn-in earlier in the day.

Pamula Pushpa Sreevani (ST), Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose (BC), Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas alias Nani (Kapu), K Narayana Swamy (SC) and Amzath Basha (Muslim) have been designated as Dy CMs.

Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office to the new ministers.

While six ministers had served in the Cabinet of Jagan Reddy’s late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy in undivided Andhra Pradesh, all others are first-time ministers.

The swearing in began at 11.49 AM, the auspicious time set by Jagan Reddy’s pundits.

Dharmana Prasada Rao was the first to be sworn-in. Adimulapu Suresh and M Goutham Reddy took oath in English, others in Telugu.

Boost To Asha

• First file to be signed by Jagan was enhancing the monthly salary of ASHA (social health activists) workers from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000.
• The CM said the first Cabinet meeting would decide on granting interim relief and scrapping Contributory Pension Scheme. 

With inputs from Agencies