Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is all set to dissolve his cabinet and bring in new ministers, a little over halfway through his term, and ahead of the 2024 state election.
The first step towards the big do-over is expected at a cabinet meeting at 3 pm today, after which ministers are reportedly going to be asked to submit their resignation letters. "90 per cent of the old team will be dropped," sources told NDTV.
Officially, there is a 20-point agenda for the meeting. The big makeover is however not unexpected as Jagan Mohan Reddy had said he would go in for an entirely new team halfway through his term. That was to happen in December 2021 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
The Chief Minister met with Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan yesterday evening and reportedly informed him that he will overhaul his cabinet. The Chief Minister is likely to meet him again tomorrow and hand him a list of ministers he would like to be sworn in on April 11.
Only one or two ministers from the "outgoing" team are likely to be retained, sources say. And only because they belong to communities that need to be represented but there is no one else from those communities among the elected legislators.
The new cabinet is likely to have representation from each of the newly formed 26 districts. Caste, region, religion, and gender are all to be duly factored in, as in June 2019 when Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as Chief Minister.
Mr Reddy had chosen to have five Deputy Chief Ministers, one each from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Kapu caste and the Muslim minority community. There were three women in the cabinet. The Home Minister was M Sucharita, a woman from the Dalit community. This structure is likely to be repeated.
Ministers are aware that most of them will not get an extension. "Ministers being dropped does not mean poor performance," a minister said. They are likely to be given party roles, as the rapport they have developed as ministers, would be useful for coordination within and between districts.
In 2019, soon after his massive victory in the Andhra Pradesh election, Jagan Reddy had said he would pick a new team mid-term as part of his strategy for 2024. The idea was to give everyone a chance and also beat any anti-incumbency against a legislator who has served as minister.
