AP Ministers List: Andhra cabinet includes five yet-to-be-named Deputy Chief Ministers
Highlights
- Andhra cabinet includes 5 yet-to-be-named Deputy Chief Ministers, 3 women
- Jagan Reddy was sworn-in as Chief Minister on May 30 in Vijayawada
- YSR Congress won 151 of 175 seats in the Andhra assembly polls last month
Andhra Pradesh's new 25-member cabinet was sworn-in today, in the presence of Governor ESL Narasimhan and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, at a ceremony held near the State Secretariat in Velagapudi. The newly constituted cabinet includes five Deputy Chief Ministers - a first for any state in India - and three women.
The Deputy Chief Ministers are Pamula Pushpa Sreevani, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, L Narayana Swamy. Amzath Basha, who is the only Muslim member of the cabinet, has also been named as a Deputy Chief Minister.
Jagan Reddy, who earlier described his cabinet as "socially inclusive" has given berths to seven legislators from the Backward Classes, five from the Scheduled Castes, four each from the Kapu and the Reddy communities, and one each from the Scheduled Tribes and Muslim community.
The Kamma community, which dominated the previous TDP government headed by Chandrababu Naidu, has been given just the one berth.
The Chief Minister has brought back senior leaders like Botsa Satyanarayana, Pinipe Viswaroop, Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who worked as ministers in his late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet.
Of the senior leaders, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose previously held Cabinet posts under the Congress government that ruled undivided Andhra Pradesh, and left to join Jagan Reddy's YSR Congress.
Jagan Reddy was sworn-in as Chief Minister on May 30 in a grand ceremony at the IGMC stadium in Vijayawada.
Jagan Reddy, 46, led his party to a huge victory in recently-held state and national elections in the state. The YSR Congress won 151 of 175 seats in the assembly, wiping out N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and 22 of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
The new Chief Minister has made clear his expectations from the new cabinet - he wants Andhra Pradesh to earn the tag of 'best-governed state' within six months to a year. He has also said the cabinet will be reconstituted after a mid-term review of performance, meaning that his new ministers will be expected to hit the ground running.
He is also keen to meet expansive promises made in the run-up to polls. These include hiking pension for senior citizens, Rs 12,500 per year as investment support to each farmer in the state, fee reimbursement for students up to Rs 1.5 lakh per year and more, all of which will cost several thousand crore rupees at a time when the state has a debt burden of Rs 2.97 lakh crore.
Aware of the difficulties ahead, Jagan Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after Lok Sabha election results were declared, to raise the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
Special status will mean a large infusion of central funds to help with the state government's plans to develop its new capital Amravati. This has been a long-standing demand of Andhra Pradesh government since Telangana was carved out of it in 2014.
Jagan Reddy is hoping that his measures will bring in what he calls "Rajanna Rajyam", an adulatory reference to his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy's era.
With inputs from PTI