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Andhra Pradesh: 25 ministers take oath after Cabinet reshuffle
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy also continued with the tradition of having five deputy chief ministers in the reshuffled cabinet.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and YSR Congress party president on Monday reconstituted his council of ministers by inducting 13 new faces and retaining 11 from the previous cabinet.
Reddy also continued with the tradition of having five deputy chief ministers in the reshuffled cabinet.
All the 25 ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Biswabhusan Harichandan at a grand event in Amaravati. Hours later, they were allotted their portfolios by the chief minister.
Of the 11 ministers from the previous cabinet, which was dissolved by Reddy on April 7, five ministers retained their portfolios. Buggana Rajendranath Reddy will continue with the finance portfolio, K Narayana Swamy retained his excise and prohibition portfolio and Seediri Appala Raju the fisheries and animal husbandry portfolio.
Similarly, Md Amzad Basha retained the minority welfare portfolio and Gummanuru Jayaram continued to hold the labour portfolio.
The remaining six ministers from Reddy’s first team were allotted new departments.
The all-important home portfolio was given to a woman for a second time. The portfolio, which was earlier held by Mekathoti Sucharita, was allotted to Taneti Vanitha. Both Sucharita and Vanitha belong to the scheduled caste community.
Budi Muthyala Naidu was given charge of Panchayat Raj; Dadishetty Raja was allotted the portfolio of roads and buildings; Pinipe Vishwaroop was given the transport portfolio and Chelluboyina Venugopala Krishna the information and cinematography portfolios.
The portfolios allotted to the other ministers are: Dharmana Prasada Rao - revenue, registration and stamps; Botsa Satyanarayana - education; Peedika Rajanna Dora - tribal welfare; Gudivada Amarnath - industries and commercial taxes; Karumuri Nageshwar Rao - civil supplies; Kottu Satyanarayana - endowments; Jogi Ramesh - housing; Meruga Nagarjuna - social welfare; Vidadala Rajini - medical and health; Ambati Rambabu - irrigation; Adimulapu Suresh - municipal administration and urban development; Kakani Goverdhan Reddy - agriculture, cooperation and food processing; Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy - power, forest, environment, science and technology; R K Roja - tourism, culture and youth services; Ushasri Charan - women development and child welfare.
The strength of the cabinet, including the chief minister, is 26, which is the maximum the council of ministers can maintain in the state as per norms.
The five deputy chief ministers are Peedika Rajanna Dora; Budi Muthyala Naidu; Kottu Satyanarayana; K Narayana Swamy and Md Amzad Basha – the last two from the previous cabinet.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by a large number of the ruling YSR Congress party leaders, including a few former ministers who were dropped from the previous cabinet, MLAs and senior party functionaries. Top state government officials also attended the programme.
Former energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and former home minister Mekathoti Sucharita, who were dropped from the cabinet, stayed away from the event.
Barring three ministers – Adimalupu Suresh, Usha Sricharanan and Peddireddy Ramachandrareddy – who took oath in English, all others read their oath in Telugu.
While most ministers shook hands with the chief minister, some others like Gudivada Amarnath, Jogi Ramesh, R K Roja, Vidadala Rajini and Usha Sricharan touched his feet to thank him.
Political analyst Rama Krishna Sangem said Jagan worked really hard to form a cabinet which gives importance to weaker sections, with an eye on next elections. “But he seems to have come under a lot of pulls and pressure. The fact that he has retained 40% of the ministers shows that he was under tremendous pressure from seniors,” Sangem said.
