Soon after the completion of the exercise on cabinet formation, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has begun the exercise of appeasing the disgruntled MLAs of the party and disappointed leaders of the dissolved cabinet.
Jagan has already promised during the last cabinet meeting that those who were being dropped in the reshuffle would be suitably rewarded with nominated posts, apart from party positions. They would be ensured all the cabinet ranks and protocol facilities, he assured.
According to sources in the party, former civil supplies minister Kodali Venkateshwara Rao alias Nani is likely to be nominated as the chairman of AP State Development Board (APSDB). He would be given cabinet rank with all the protocol and other facilities.
Kodali Nani’s name was doing rounds as one of the 10 ministers to be retained by Jagan in the new cabinet, till Sunday afternoon. However, his name did not figure in the final list of the cabinet ministers send to Raj Bhavan for approval.
Similarly, Mudunuri Nagaraja Vara Prasada Raju from Narasapuram in West Godavari district, whose name was also doing rounds as one of the probables in the cabinet, is said to have been chosen as government chief whip.
At the same time, another senior MLA Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy, who also could not make it to the cabinet due to caste equations, is likely to be appointed as deputy speaker of the assembly.
On the other hand, another probable candidate Malladi Vishnu from Vijayawada Central, has been hinted as the vice-chairman of AP State Planning Board, which is also a cabinet rank post.
Jagan is learnt to have deputed his advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy to appease senior minister of the previous cabinet Balineni Srinivas Reddy, who has been sulking ever since his name was not included in the final list. Balineni, too, might be given a prominent cabinet rank post, sources added.
