In a surprise move, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy included Dharmana Prasada Rao, the Minister for Roads & Buildings, who has been keeping away from his duties since August 15, 2012, in a 13-member Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted on Thursday for formulating guidelines for rolling out government schemes and for ensuring their better reach to the people.
Mr. Dharmana announced resignation to his Minister’s post on August 14 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) included him as an accused in the VANPIC case as part of the disproportionate assets probe against YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
He was charged with violation of norms in the allotment of vast extent of lands to VANPIC. The Chief Minister did not accept Mr. Dharmana’s resignation.
However, he stopped attending his duties as Minister in the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet from August 15.
The GoM comprises N. Raghuveera Reddy (Revenue), A. Ramnarayana Reddy (Finance), K. Lakshminarayana (Agriculture), J. Geetha Reddy (Major Industries), D. Prasada Rao (Roads & Buildings), D. Sridhar Babu (Civil Supplies), D. Manikya Varaprasad (Rural Development), D. K. Aruna (Information & Public Relations), P. Satyanarayana (Social Welfare), P. Bala Raju (Tribal Welfare), V. Vasantha Kumar (Tourism), K. Parthasarathy (Secondary Education) and Dr. S. Sailajanath (Primary Education).
The GoM will initially formulate guidelines and the timelines for the roll out of SC/ST Sub-Plans awareness, Rachchabanda, Telugu Mahasabha, Mana Biyyam and supply of nine essential commodities. They will consult the Ministers concerned in respect of future initiatives. Principal Secretary (Planning) will coordinate the meetings of GoM, according to an official press release.
