Kiran to expand his Cabinet again

This would be the second expansion of the Cabinet undertaken by Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy in less than three weeks.  He had included two legislators of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam into his Council of Ministers on January 19.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy will expand his Cabinet again, inducting three Ministers on Monday evening. The new Ministers will be administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan at a swearing-in-ceremony at 6.28 p.m. at the Raj Bhavan.

This would be the second expansion of the Cabinet undertaken by Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy in less than three weeks. He had included two legislators of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam – C. Ramachandraiah and Mr. G. Srinivasa Rao – into his Council of Ministers on January 19. Their inclusion was in fulfillment of the Congress party’s promise to film star-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi to accommodate his party-men in return for the latter's support to the Government during the confidence vote last year.

Official sources said that the MLAs to be sworn-in today will solely be those elected from the Telangana region. The MLAs are Mr. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mr. Kondru Murali and Mr. Prasad Kumar.

This exercise is primarily aimed at setting right the regional imbalance in the Council of Ministers, caused by the resignation of two Ministers and dismissal of another, all from Telangana, and the recent inclusion of two Ministers from the Seemandhra region.

The Chief Minister had pressed his party high command for permission to thoroughly overhaul his Cabinet during his two-day visit to New Delhi on February 4 and 5. The AICC leadership, however, gave him the limited mandate to induct only Ministers from Telangana, lest the exercise leads to dissension in the Congress ahead of Assembly by-elections in the State. The sources said that Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy was unlikely to re-shuffle the Ministers’ portfolios as the budget session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin next week.