Firmly in the saddle, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah is planning to restructure the ministry in order to get greater control over it.
Mr Rosaiah is expected to drop ministers who had made public their dissatisfaction with him such as Ms Konda Surekha (women’s welfare), and Mr P. Subhash Chandra Bose (social welfare). They had said that they would not stay in the ministry if Mr Rosaiah is asked to continue as Chief Minister.
When journalists brought this to Mr Rosaiah’s notice a few days ago, the Chief Minister had said he has no problem accepting their resignations.
However, the message from the pro-Jagan camp is: “Don’t remove anyone now. Inducting someone into the ministry is your prerogative.” It remains to be seen how the Chief Minister will react.
The Cabinet has 34 ministers, and the Chief Minister can take on as many as 10 more ministers. Dr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, chairman of the advisory committee on public affairs and chief mentor of the Jagan-as-CM camp, appeared to defend the pro-Jagan ministers. Sources close to Mr Rao said all the 34 ministers had taken the oath of office again on the advice of the party high command, thereby accepting Mr Rosaiah as Chief Minister.
The sources said that in early September, immediately after the death of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the ministers had wanted Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy to step into his father’s shoes. At no stage were they against Mr Rosaiah, the sources said. When the high command refused to change the leadership, the ministers understood the changed circumstances and were extending full cooperation to Mr Rosaiah, the sources said.
The Union minister, Mr Veerappa Moily, the AP Congress incharge, told the media on Sunday that the high command had no specific proposal to effect changes in the ministry unless the Chief Minister wanted it. He said the date for the Congress Legislature Party meeting would be finalised soon. The State Congress chief, Mr D. Srinivas, is flying to Delhi on Monday, his first visit there since the death of YSR. Those angling for a Cabinet berth are the former ministers, Mr K. Jana Reddy, Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, Mr D.L. Ravindra Reddy, Mr Marri Sashidhar Reddy, Dr P. Shanker Rao, Ms G. Kuthuhalamma, Mr Adala Prabhakara Reddy.
The senior legislators, Mr Erasu Pratap Reddy, Mr T.G. Venkatesh, Mr Basavaraju Saraiah and Mr M. Mahidhara Reddy are also lobbying for a ministerial job. Other aspirants are the MLCs, Mr K.R. Amos and Mr R. Padmaraju, and Mr P. Ramachandra Reddy, who had refused to be sworn-in as minister until Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy was made Chief Minister. Mr Ramachandra Reddy, however, has not uttered a word against Mr Rosaiah. In fact, he was the first person to be present at Raj Bhavan on September 5 when Mr Rosaiah formed his Cabinet.
Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, minister for agriculture, who was the first to raise the Jagan-for-CM demand of “Jagan as CM” at Atmakur even before YSR’s body had arrived in Kurnool for the post-mortem, is also supporting the high command’s decision on Mr Rosaiah. Mr Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Mr D. Nagender, who had insisted on a resolution by the Cabinet on September 3 requesting the Congress high command to make Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy the Chief Minister, have also had a change of heart.
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