Chandrababu Naidu to induct Farooq, Sravan
Amaravati: AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is expected to induct AP Legislative Council Chairman NMD Farooq and Kidari Sravan, son of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao who fell to Maoist bullets recently, into his Cabinet on Sunday. The event will take place at Undavalli in Guntur, tentatively at 11.45 am.
Sources in the Telugu Desam Party informed that though the expansion was supposed to take place about three months back it did not take place due to various reasons.
TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu has already promised and announced at a public meeting that he would give an opportunity to a Muslim representative in the Cabinet. In fact, the induction of a Muslim leader was proposed before the TDP organized the Muslim minority public meeting in Guntur.
But, at that time, as expected by the leaders and political analysts in the state, Naidu did not take anybody into his Cabinet and continued the suspense. Though there are other leaders from the Muslim minority in TDP, the sources said the Chief Minister had decided to induct Farooq into the Cabinet, since he had already served as minister and serving as Chairman in the Council from last November. Based on his experience, Naidu gave the opportunity to him, the sources added.
As Scheduled Tribes also have representation in the Cabinet, Naidu indicated inducting Sravan into the Cabinet. Though his father Kidari Sarveswara Rao’s name was in consideration for a Cabinet berth when he was alive, the expansion did not take place then. Sravan is neither a member of the Legislative Assembly nor the Council.
Though one has to be elected either as MLA or MLC within six months, there is no way it could be done since the term of the present Assembly will expire in the first week of June 2019. He would be a minister without being elected to either of the legislative Houses. As he would be inducted into the Cabinet, he would become the natural choice for the TDP for Araku seat in the next Assembly elections.
By M Sambasiva Rao