Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy visited New Delhi on Saturday and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Congress president Sonia Gandhi among others.
Talking to The Hindu over phone, he said the meetings were mere courtesy calls since he was visiting the capital for the first time after taking over as Chief Minister. His discussions with Ms. Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders on Cabinet formation were still on and it would be finalised soon. He could not say whether the exercise would be completed on Sunday.
He would provide a “clean and transparent” government in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Equal representation
Sources said, considering the sensitivity of the Telangana issue and the expected report of the Justice Srikrishna Committee, the new Chief Minister might be advised to give proportionate representation to every region in the Cabinet; he may thus go in for a small Cabinet in the beginning which could be expanded in future.
This might be useful to the organisation to feel the pulse of the party functionaries. Based on their feedback, corrective measures, if necessary, could be undertaken in the next shuffle, sources said.
Geeta Reddy likely
The Cabinet could also witness at least 50 per cent new faces and the next-generation leaders, it is learnt.
Mr. Reddy will have a Deputy Chief Minister from Telangana region and former Tourism Minister Geeta Reddy was top on the list for the post. Factors working in her favour include that she is a Dalit, a woman, experienced administrator, well-educated and hailing from Telangana region.
Among others, Mr. Reddy called on Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Ministers Pranab Mukherjee (Finance), A.K. Antony (Defence), P. Chidambaram (Home), S. Jaipal Reddy (Urban Development), M. Veerappa Moily (Law and Justice) and Ghulam Nabi Azad (Health) and Ms. Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
