Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, while keeping his promise made in June 2019 of revamping his cabinet halfway through his tenure, has reconstituted it.
The newly formed cabinet has a mixture of senior and experienced leaders as well as fresh and young faces for balanced governance. While the seniors will bring in their expertise and experience on to the table, the young leaders will bring in fresh and innovative ideas and initiatives to the table, thus aiding in people-oriented governance.
The previous Ministers, however, will be given responsibilities in the party so that they can make use of their experience to ensure the party’s victory in the upcoming assembly and general elections in 2024. The representation given to the SCs, STs, minorities, and Backward Classes by the Jagan-led govt is unheard of in Andhra Pradesh history and the same continues in this cabinet as well. In 2019, when CM Jagan formed his cabinet, of 24 Ministers, 56 per cent of them were from the SC, ST, OBC and minority sections of the society. Keeping the same motto of fair social representation, the CM has increased their representation in the cabinet to 68 per cent. In the previous cabinet, there were 5 SCs, 1 ST, 7 OBCs, 1 minority, and 11 Other castes MLAs as Ministers.
Out of the 11 Ministers retained from the previous cabinet, 4 from SC, 5 from BC and 2 from Other Category (OC), official sources told ANI.
Meanwhile, during Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure in 2014, the OCs representation was 13 while the SCs, and OBCs was 12. Out of the 12 given, there was no Ministry given to leaders from the ST and minority communities. The same ratio was again maintained in 2017, when the cabinet was revamped again. The STs were included in CBN’s cabinet only four months prior to him completing his tenure. Comparing this with Jagan’s new cabinet, there has been a 50 per cent increase in the SC, ST, BC and minority representation in the cabinet, the official sources said. In contrast, Chief Minister Jagan taking a landmark decision and proving his commitment, for the first time in the country, five Deputy Chief Ministers (DCMs) were appointed, out of which, four leaders from SC, ST, minority and BC were given a post each in 2019 and the same has continued in this cabinet. The same principle was followed even for the nominated posts and works. Of the nominated posts and works.