New Andhra cabinet to be sworn in on Wednesday

HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh’s new cabinet will be sworn-in Wednesday despite the resignation of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy from the Congress party and parliament.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy met Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and submitted a list of ministers. The governor will administer oath of offive and secrecy to a deputy chief minister and other ministers on Wednesday.

Kiran, who returned here Monday after a two-day visit to Delhi for consultations with party president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders, made it clear that the swearing-in would take place as scheduled.

The resignations of Jagan and his mother Vijayalaxmi will have no impact on the swearing-in of the new cabinet, Congress sources said.

Kiran is likely to induct 30 to 35 ministers in his cabinet. Though the leadership has given him full freedom to pick up his team, the list is being kept a closely guarded secret.

The new cabinet could not be sworn-in on Monday or Tuesday as these were considered inauspicious days by some politicians.

The chief minister Monday also held a meeting with party legislators in the backdrop of the latest developments. He advised legislators not to get disappointed if not inducted in the cabinet.

“Everybody cannot be a minister. I became chief minister without even becoming a minister. Everybody will get recognition in the party,” he said.

J. Geeta Reddy or C. Damodar Rajanarasimha are likely to be made the deputy chief minister, party insiders indicated. The party has already announced that the deputy chief minister would be from Telangana. Both Geeta Reddy and Rajanarasimha were ministers in the cabinets of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and K. Rosaiah, who stepped down last week on health grounds.

If Rajanarasimha becomes deputy chief minister, Geeta Reddy may be appointed new speaker of the assembly. Kiran was the speaker before the prty leadership picked him as the chief minister in succession to Rosaiah.

Botsa Satyanarayana, a former minister from coastal Andhra, is likely to be appointed new president of the state unit of the Congress party.

With Monday’s developments, it has become certain that two ministers in the previous cabinet loyal to Jagan would not get another chance. P. Subhash Chandrabose and B. Srinivas Reddy recently come out in open support of Jagan.