New AP Ministers given portfolios; Lokesh gets IT and Panchayati Raj

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today allocated portfolios to 11 newly inducted ministers in his cabinet, including his son Nara Lokesh, who was given the IT and Panchayat Raj departments. Chandrababu had yesterday effected a cabinet expansion and reshuffle, taking the strength of the TDP ministry to 26. With no Muslim minister in the cabinet, Chandrababu kept the Minorities Welfare and Empowerment department with himself.

Besides the General Administration Department, the CM will also hold charge of "Happiness Index" that is neither a portfolio nor a department, but an objective of the government. The CM parted with the Energy department he had been holding and gave it to K Kala Venkata Rao. Another senior Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy was given Agriculture and Horticulture, while former journalist Kalva Srinivasulu was made minister for Information and Public Relations. Kalva will also hold charge of Rural Housing.

N Amarnath Reddy will be the new Industries and Commerce minister, while Nakka Anand Babu will head social and tribal welfare departments. The youngest member of the cabinet, Bhuma Akhila Priya, was given Tourism, Language and Culture portfolios, while Paritala Sunithamma got Women Empowerment, Child, Disabled and Senior Citizens' welfare department. Ch Adinarayana Reddy was given Marketing, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Co-operatives departments while another newcomer Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao got Mines and Geology.

K Samuel Jawahar was allocated Excise and Pithani Satyanarayana Labour. Kollu Ravindra got a change in his portfolios from Excise and Backward Class welfare to Law and Justice and Youth, Sports, NRI empowerment and skill development. K Atchannaidu too got new portfolios in Transport, BC Welfare, Handlooms and Textiles. From Agriculture, P Pulla Rao was moved to Food and Civil Supplies while Ch Ayyanna Patrudu got Roads and Buildings. Siddaraghav Rao was made Environment and Forests Ministers. There was no change in the portfolios of the two Deputy CMs K E Krishna Murthy (Revenue) and N China Rajappa (Home). Similarly, TDP veteran Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will continue to be Finance and Commercial Taxes minister, besides Legislative Affairs.

Devineni Umamaheswara Rao (Water Resources), P Narayana (Municipal Administration), Ganta Srinivasa Rao (HRD), Kamineni Srinivas (Health and Medical) and P Manikyala Rao (Endowments) also didn't see change in their portfolios. In the maiden reorganisation of the State Council of Ministers yesterday, since the AP government was formed on June 8, 2014, five incumbent ministers were dropped. Besides Lokesh, four MLAs of the opposition YSRC who switched loyalty to the ruling TDP-BJP coalition, and six others were inducted into the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet.

According to political observers, in handing over the Information Technology and Communications and Panchayat Raj and Rural Development departments to his son Naidu followed the pattern of his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao. Rao had made his son K T Rama Rao the minister for IT and PR in 2014 in his cabinet.