Hyderabad, Dec 1 (IANS) Late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy was among the 39 ministers inducted into the state cabinet Wednesday.
Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy not only dropped three loyalists of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the late Y.S.Rajasekara Reddy’s rebel son who is popularly known as Jagan, but also inducted a few others who were openly targeting him and demanding probe into alleged corruption during YSR’s six-year rule.
Kiran has dropped five ministers who were members of the cabinets of YSR and Rosaiah, retained 28 ministers and brought 11 new faces, including Vivekananda Reddy.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a morning ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
Vivekananda is the only minister from the legislative council and his induction was clearly aimed to counter Jagan, who resigned from the Congress and parliament Monday, accusing the leadership of trying to divide the family by luring his uncle with ministerial post.
Jagan and his mother Vijayalaxmi, who too quit the Congress and the state assembly, tried in vain to stop Vivekananda from joining the cabinet. There was a heated argument between Jagan and his uncle during their meeting Tuesday night at Kadapa.
Vivekananda, who left for Hyderabad after the meeting, made it clear that he would join the cabinet and remain in the Congress till his last breath.
Kiran dropped B. Srinivas Reddy and P. Subhash Chandra Bose, who had openly come out in support of Jagan in recent months. Shilpa Mohan Reddy was also seen as a Jagan loyalist.
Kiran also dropped P. Ramchandra Reddy, his rival in the party in his native Chittoor district. Senior leader Gade Venkat Reddy also did not find place.
Shankar Rao, a legislator from Hyderabad, and D.L. Ravinder Reddy of Kadapa district were among the new faces. The two are bitter critics of Jagan and had been demanding probe into alleged corruption during YSR’s rule.
K. Jana Reddy, who was home minister in YSR’s earlier cabinet (2004-09), returned to the cabinet. However, another senior leader, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, who was expected to make a comeback, was not inducted.
With 16 ministers, Telangana has been given the largest representation in the cabinet, followed by coastal Andhra (15) and Rayalaseema (8).
Mohammed Ahmedullah remains the lone Muslim minister in the cabinet.
Of the state’s 23 districts, Adilabad is the only district with representation in the cabinet.
The prominent ministers who were retained include Dharmana Prasad Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, Raghuveera Reddy, P. Lakshma Reddy, G. Aruna Kumari, S. Vijayrama Raju and J. Geeta Reddy.
The Congress retained power in April 2009 elections by bagging 156 seats in the 294-member assembly.
YSR, who took oath as the chief minister for the second consecutive term May 20 last year, died in a helicopter crash on Sep 2 the same year.
Rosaiah, who was finance minister in the YSR cabinet, succeeded him as the chief minister but retained the same cabinet. He quit last week on health grounds.
