Jagan’s new council of ministers likely to be sworn in on Monday

A day after dissolving the entire cabinet, YSR Congress Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday begun an exercise of constituting a fresh cabinet on April 11.

According to an CMO spokesperson, the chief minister accepted the resignations of all the 24 ministers soon after a cabinet meeting was over on Thursday and informed the same to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan.

“In all probability, the fresh list of the cabinet ministers will be sent to Raj Bhavan on Sunday evening, hours before the swearing-in of the new ministers at the state secretariat premises at 11.31 am on Monday. Even the new ministers will be informed on Sunday evening itself,” the spokespersons said.

A senior YSRC functionary privy to the information said Jagan had obtained a list of probable ministers from a couple of his close confidants including party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy and advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.

“The chief minister is going through these lists and after making the caste and regional balancing, he would come out with a final list,” the party leader said.

He said now that there were 26 districts in the state, the chief minister was contemplating ensuring that all the districts get due representation in the new cabinet, including himself.

“Besides, Jagan will also 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,” he said.

During the last cabinet meeting on Thursday, Jagan hinted that he might retain four or five ministers of the outgoing cabinet, while reconstituting the new cabinet and all the remaining ministers would be new faces.

However, the party leader quoted above that there was a possibility of retaining more than half a dozen senior ministers since Jagan might find it difficult to administer the state with all new ministers in the run-up to the next elections.

“The talk in the party is that Jagan needs experienced hands to run the administration. Many of the seniors like Botsa Satyanarayana, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Balineni Srinivas Reddy and Perni Venkatramaiah have a lot of hold on the administration and their support is very essential for Jagan. He cannot depend on newcomers,” the party leader said.

Though Jagan has decided to make use of the services of the seniors for strengthening the party to face the 2024 assembly election, they are capable of handling both administration and party affairs simultaneously. “So, Jagan might retain such ministers,” he added.

In the outgoing cabinet, there are five deputy CMs. Reddy is likely to have five new deputy chief ministers as part of his strategy to strike a caste balance in the state. Currently, the five Deputy CMs represent scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, backward class, minority and Kapu communities.

Also, there are 11 ministers from upper castes, including four from the Reddy community, seven from OBC, five from SC, and one each from ST and Muslim communities.