Jagan Reddy to take oath as AP CM with 15 ministers
AMRAVATI (AP) : Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ministers are likely take oath along with him on May 30 when he swears in as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He said God has punished TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu for his “misdeeds”.
Mr Reddy may induct about 15 ministers initially. Given the strength of the AP Assembly, the Cabinet can have 26 ministers including the Chief Minister. Sources close to Mr Reddy said he would not delay the formation of the Cabinet. There is a gap of one week between the announcement of results and the swearing in ceremony.
The Cabinet will have a mix of seniors and new faces. It was stated that he would give preference to those who stood by him despite the pressure to defect to the TD.
Addressing the newly-elected legislators of his party, Jagan Reddy said Andhra Pradesh election results showed that those who resort to “unethical and unjust” means will definitely be punished by God.
Jagan Reddy said after 2014 elections, Mr Naidu “purchased” 23 MLAs of YSRCP.”Now TDP got only 23 seats and the results also came on May 23. God has written a beautiful script with 23,” said Jagan Reddy, who is the son of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
Jagan Reddy also claimed that Mr Naidu illegally took away three MPs of YSRCP, and now his party got only three Lok Sabha seats.
During the campaign, Mr Reddy had announced that he would induct Mr Balineni Srinivasa Reddy (Ongole) Mr Alla Ramakrishna Reddy (Mangalagiri) and Mr Marri Rajasekhar of Guntur district into the Cabinet. But Mr Rajasekhar is not a member of either House.
Mr Reddy will give more importance to STs and weaker section leaders. In Srikakulam district, former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, in Vizianagaram district former minister Botsa Satyanarayana, in East Godavari district, former minister P. Viswaroop and in Nellore district former minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy stand a chance of being inducted.
In Vizianagaram district, Kurupam MLA Pamula Pushpa Sreevani and Salur MLA P. Rajanna Dora stood by Mr Reddy even though they were offered huge amounts to defect to the TD. Both of them belong to the ST community.
In Visakhapatnam, Anaka-palli MLA Gudivada Amarnath and Chodavaram MLA Karanam Dharmasri will have a chance. In East Godavari, Tuni MLA Dadisetti Rajam, Kakinada Rural MLA Kurasala Kannababu, Amalapuram MLA and former minister Pinipe Viswarupu, Mummidivaram MLA Ponnada Satish Kumar and former minister Pilli Subhaschandra Bose’s names are under consideration.
In West Godavari, Eluru MLA Alla Nani, Narasapuram MLA Mudunuri Prasada Raju, Bhimavaram MLA Grandhi Srinivas, who defeated Pawan Kalyan, and Polavaram MLA Tellam Balaraju are being considered. From Krishna district, those in the race are Gudivada MLA Kodali Nani, Machilipatnam MLA Perni Nani, Pedana MLA Jogi Ramesh, Penamaluru MLA K. Pardhasaradhi.
In Guntur district, Bapatla MLA Kona Raghupathi and Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, in Nellore district, Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Anil Yadav and Anam Ramanarayan Reddy will have a chance. In Chittoor district, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and R.K. Roja, in Kadapa district, Azmath Basha Shaik, in Anantapur district, Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, in Kurnool district Buggana Rajendranath Reddy may stand a chance.(With Inputs from Hyderabad).
