Naidu set to expand Cabinet

​Amaravati: The much-awaited AP Cabinet expansion is expected to take place in the second of week of April. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, according to sources, is reportedly considering either April 6 or 9 as auspicious for the expansion. Initially, he thought of undertaking the exercise on March 29, a day after the budget session of the Assembly as per the original schedule.

The session was extended up to March 31 in view of the death of party associate member Bhuma Nagi Reddy. Naidu was sworn in Chief Minister along with his 19-member council of ministers in June, 2015 although the size of the Cabinet is allowed to go up to 26. Since then the aspirants are sparing no efforts to please Naidu by all means and the expansion was getting delayed since then for one reason or the other.

As hardly two years time is left for the government to go to the polls, performance and political equations may be the key parameters in resizing the Cabinet. Nara Lokesh, son of the Chief Minister, may do a KTR (K Tarakarama Rao, son of Telangana CM KCR and Urban development & IT minister) as a fresh face in the Naidu’s expanded Cabinet. Municipal Administration minister P Narayana may have to make way for Lokesh.

Narayana, in turn, may be tipped as Chairman of the CRDA (Capital Region Development Authority), the post currently held by the CM, the sources said. Narayana will be stripped of his ministry on the ground that the party under his election management lost both the MLC seats for graduates and teachers’ constituencies in his native Nellore district.

Among the other probable losers besides Narayana are BC Welfare Minister Kollu Ravindra from Krishna district, SC and ST welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu from Madiga community from Guntur district, Peethala Sujatha, Women and Child Welfare Minister hailing from Mala community in West Godavari district, Kimidi Mrunalini from Vizianagaram district, Palle Raghunadha Reddy in Anantapur district.

Mrunalini will be replaced by her close relative and party state president K Kala Venkata Rao, while Ravindra from Backward Classes by Beeda Ravi Kumar Yadav, another BC leader from Nellore district.

Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy from Nellore district or Gali Muddhukrishnama Naidu in Chittoor district may be elevated as Chairman of the AP Legislative Council, the sources said. Kishore Babu, mired in controversies surrounding the alleged harassment of ZP Chairperson Jani Moon from Muslim minorities and his son’s involvement in a sexual harassment case, is likely to be replaced by Dokka Manikya Varaparasad from the same Madiga community in Guntur district.

In Kadapa district, Naidu is understood to be toying with the idea of anointing Devagudi Adinarayana Reddy from Jammalamadugu, who defected from the YSRC as a minister to counter Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy on his home turf.

Besides Adinarayana Reddy, two more YSRCP defectors— Akhila Priya, daughter of Nagi Reddy and Sujana Ranga Rao from Bobbili in Viziangaram district -- may find berths in the Cabinet provided there will not be any legal hurdles relating to the anti-defection law. The TD government has accommodated a good number of BC leaders (five ministers) in the Cabinet and the number is no less when compared to those in the cabinet from the Kapus.

Therefore, the identity politics surrounding the BC-Kapu quota issues may not compel Naidu to give more berths to the BCs, the party sources said. Shariff or Jaleel Khan under minority quota and either Mudiyam Srinivasa Rao of West Godavari or G Sandhya Rani in Vizianagaram district are likely to be elevated as ministers.