With YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy hinting that he might retain four or five ministers of the just dissolved state cabinet while forming the new cabinet, speculations have started as to who those lucky ministers are.
The names of two of those lucky ministers – Chelluboyina Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna from Ramachandrapuram constituency in East Godavari district and Gummanuru Jayaram from Aluru constituency in Kurnool district have already been doing rounds in the YSRC circles and the media.
Soon after the meeting of the outgoing cabinet ended on Thursday, two more names have come into circulation in the media.
They are: Seediri Appala Raju and Adimulapu Suresh. The fifth name, if Jagan will retain another minister, has not yet been speculated.
If these four names turn out to be correct, it is pretty evident that Jagan has done a massive exercise to form the new cabinet taking into consideration various caste and regional equations.
Chelluboyina Venugopala Krishna and Seediri Appala Raju are late entrants into the cabinet – they were inducted by Jagan in July 2020, in place of two seniors – Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, who had to resign from the cabinet after they got elected as Rajya Sabha members.
Maybe, because of their short duration in the cabinet, Jagan wants to retain them. And Adimulapu Suresh, being a Dalit Christian, is preferred because of the caste equation from Prakasam district.
Jagan is likely to continue the tradition of reserving 50 per cent of the cabinet berths to SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and women.
“The chief minister would also continue with the practice of appointing five deputy chief ministers, representing weaker sections,” sources said.
