Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan with TDP supremo and Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: As expected, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu made Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan his deputy. Ending a prolonged period of suspense, Naidu on Friday allocated portfolios to the newly inducted cabinet ministers. The new ministers were sworn in on Wednesday. Naidu, took two days on portfolio allocation exercise before announcing on Friday.
While making Pawan Kalyan deputy chief minister, Naidu allocated to him panchayati raj, rural development, environment, and forest departments. Also, TDP retained all the key portfolios, like home, finance, revenue, IT, HRD, and industries.
The lone BJP minister, Satya Kumar Yadav, has been allotted health and family welfare. Home went to Payakaraopeta MLA, Vangalapudi Anitha. Naidu's son, Nara Lokesh, was allotted IT. Lokesh was the IT minister during Naidu's previous tenure between 2014 and 2019. However, this time he was given an additional portfolio of HRD.
Other Jana Sena members in the state cabinet, Nadendla Manohar, were allocated civil supplies and Kandula Durgesh tourism.
One of the senior leaders of the TDP, Kinjarapu Atchennaidu, and the uncle of the union minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, were allies in agriculture.
Another trusted leader of Naidu, senior leader Payyavula Keshav, was given crucial finance. Ponguru Narayana, who helmed the Municipal Administration Department between 2014 and 2019, had the same responsibility. It was under the MA and UD departments that CRDA came, which is responsible for the development of the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. He was also accused in the Amaravati land scam probed by CID during the YSRCP regime.
The first-time MLA and one of the youngest ministers in Naidu's cabinet, TG Bharath, was allocated the crucial industries department.
Naidu had tried to make a balancing act in picking his cabinet. He allotted three berths to key ally Jana Sena and one to another ally, the BJP.
In all of Naidu's cabinet, there are eight BCs, two SCs, one ST, one Muslim, and one Vaishya, and among them are three women. At least 17 are new faces.
Among the Ocs, Kapus and Kammas received four berths each, while Reddys received three. Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivas, who has garnered the highest majority of all the MLAs in the state, was announced TDP state unit president.
Naidu had taken to X to congratulate Pawan Kalyan and other cabinet colleagues who were allotted the portfolios.
“Congratulations to @PawanKalyanGaru on becoming the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. I congratulate all my colleagues in the cabinet on being assigned their portfolios. Together, we have taken a solemn oath to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh and usher in an era of people's governance. I'm confident that you will strive to deliver on our people's expectations as ministers. My best wishes to you all as you embark on this journey of service and devotion,” said Naidu's post on X.
Cabinet:
Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu: General Administration Department (GAD), Law and Order, Public Enterprises and all other portfolios not allocated to ministers.
1. Deputy Chief Minister Konidela Pawan Kalyan: Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, Rural Water supply, Environment, Forests, Science and Technology.
2. Nara Lokesh: Human Resources Development, IT, Electronics and Communication, Real Time Governance (RTG)
3. Kinjarapu Atchan Naidu: Agriculture, Cooperation, Marketing, Animal Husbandry, Dairy development and Fisheries
4. Kollu Ravindra: Mines and Geology and Excise
5. Nadendla Manohar: Food and Civil supplies, Consumer affairs.
6. Ponguru Narayana: Municipal Administration and Urban Development
7. Anitha Vangalapudi: Home Affairs, Disaster Management
8. Satya Kumar Yadav: Health Family Welfare, and Medical Education
9. Dr Nimmala Ramanaidu: Water Resources Development
10. Nasyam Mohammad Farook: Law, Justice and Minority Welfare
11. Anam Ramnarayana Reddy: Endowments
12. Payyavula Keshav: Finance, Planning, Commercial Taxes, and Legislature
13. Anagani Satay Prasad: Revenue, Registration and Stamps
14. Kolusu Parthasarathy – Housing and Information & Public Relations (I & PR)
15. Dr Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swami: Social Welfare, Disabled and Senior Citizen Welfare, Sachivalayam and Village Volunteers
16. Gottipati Ravi Kumar: Energy
17. Kandula Durgesh: Tourism, Culture and Cinematography
18. Gummadi Sandhya Rani: Women, Child Welfare and Tribal Welfare
19. BC Janardhan Reddy: Roads, Buildings, Infrastructure and Investments
20. TG Bharath: Industries, Commerce and Food Processing
21. S Savitha: BC Welfare, Economically Weaker Sections Welfare, Handloom and Textiles
22. Vasamsetty Subhash: Labour, Factories, Boilers, Insurance Medical Services
23. Kondapalli Srinivas: Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Empowerment and Relations
24. Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy: Transport, Youth and Sports.