Chandrababu Naidu likely to expand Cabinet

Amaravati: Expansion of the AP Cabinet appears to be on the cards. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is understood to be contemplating to induct three new faces into his Cabinet ahead of the Assembly elections to be held in 2019.

After the two BJP ministers Kamineni Srinivas and P Manikayala Rao resigned following the TDP stepping out of the NDA, there are now three vacancies in the cabinet including the one that has been existing since the last cabinet expansion in 2017.

Naidu is reportedly keen on taking on board one leader from the minority communities, a constituency which is critical for winning the elections. They could be from among muslims, Christians and the third might be filled by a tribal.

As he has been facing flak that he had ignored the minorities by not taking anyone into his Cabinet, Naidu wants to silence his critics by doing what they want him to do.

To a question at a recent news conference, the Chief Minister indicated that he was in favour of taking an MLA from the minority communities into his Cabinet. MLC and Government Whip MA Sharif has set his eyes on the coveted position while those who migrated from the YSRCP are also hopeful of dame luck smiling on them.

They include MLAs Jaleel Khan who lost the bus in the Cabinet expansion in the past for becoming a butt of ridicule for saying that he studied physics in B Com in an interview to a journalist.     

Anglo-Indian MLA Philip C Tocher is also expecting the berth in the Cabinet under the minorities quota.  Naidu is also thinking whether to take more YSRCP MLAs into his Cabinet as already he is facing criticism of not only admitting Opposition MLAs into his party but also taking four of them into his Cabinet while they even today technically members of the YSRC.

At present, there are 24 members in the state Cabinet including the Chief Minister. There is a scope for taking only three more members into the Cabinet now.  As per the Constitution of India, the strength of the Cabinet should not exceed 15 per cent of total number of the members of the Assembly, which is 175.