In what the YSR Congress called a “socially-inclusive Cabinet”, 25 Ministers were inducted on June 8 into the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Cabinet in Andhra Pradesh.
In line with his electoral promise, Mr. Jagan gave Cabinet berths to seven legislators from the backward classes, five from the Scheduled Castes, one each from the Scheduled Tribes and Muslims, and four each from the Kapu and the Reddy communities.
1. Dharmana Krishna Das — Minister of Roads and Buildings
Dharmana Krishna Das.
The Narasannapeta MLA-elect joined the YSRCP in 2012 after quitting the Congress party. He won from Narasannapeta in 2004 and 2009 on Congress tickets and lost the election in 2014 for the YSRCP. He has been handed the portfolios of Roads and Buildings. He quit both the Congress and the State Assembly after the death of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to join Jagan Mohan Reddy's newly-floated YSRCP. He fought the by-elections for YSRCP and was the first YSRCP MLA to be chosenfrom Srikakulam district. Known to be a Jagan-loyalist, his selection to the cabinet doesn't come as a surprise. His brother Prasada Rao is also an MLA-elect for the YSRCP from Srikakulam district.
2. Botcha Satyanarayana — Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development
Botcha Satyanarayana.
Mr. Satyanarayana won the Cheerpurupalli constituency with a margin of 26,948 votes against TDP's Kimidi Nagarjuna. He is said to have played a key role in ensuring the victory of the YSRCP in all nine Assembly constituencies in the district. He will serve as the Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development. He had earlier worked as the Vizianagaram District Cooperative Central Bank president and represented the Vizianagaram Lok Sabha seat. He enjoyed the confidence of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. After his demise, he continued to be with the Congress and became the Pradesh Congress Committee president. Post bifurcation, he contested unsuccessfully on the Congress ticket in 2014 from Cheepurupalli. He later joined the YSRCP.
3. Pamula Pushpasreevani — Deputy Chief Minister — Minister of Tribal Welfare
Puspa Sreevani greets Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy after she was sworn in as Minister in Amaravati on June 8, 2019.
The 27-year-old graduate, who won the ST reserved Kurupam Assembly seat in Vizianagaram district for the YSRCP, is the lone woman Deputy Chief Minister. In addition to this, she will also serve as the Minister of Tribal Welfare.
4. Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao — Minister of Tourism; Culture and Youth Advancement
Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao.
The YSRCP MLA from Bheemunipatnam is the founder chairman of Avanthi Educational Society that runs about 14 engineering, pharmacy, degree and PG colleges in Andhra Pradesh. He has served as MLA of Bheemunipatnam from 2009 to 2014 and as Anakapalle MP from 2014 to 2019. He started his political career with the Praja Rajyam Party in 2009 and later moved to the TDP in 2014. He joined the YSRCP in 2019.
5. Kurasula Kanna Babu — Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation
Kurasula Kanna Babu.
The Kakinada Rural MLA-elect joined the YSRCP in 2016. He was previously an MLA for the Praja Rajyam Party from Kakinada Rural in 2009. He will serve as the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation
6. Pilli Subhash Chandrabose — Deputy Chief Minister — Minister of Revenue, Registration and Stamps
Pilli Subhash Chandrabose.
Pilli Subhash Chandrabose, who resigned his cabinet post in the Congress government when YSRCP was floated in 2011, is one of the five Deputy Chief Ministers sworn in on Saturday. He was also handed the responsibility of Revenue, and Registration and Stamps.
7. Pinipe Viswarup — Minister of Social Welfare
Pinipe Viswarup.
Senior leader Pinipe Viswarup, who served as the Rural Water Supply Minister under the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and also under K. Rosiah, has been brought back as Minister by Jagan Mohan Reddy. He won the Amalapuram seat, defeating incumbent Aithabathula Anandarao by a margin of around 35000 seats. Mr. Viswarup had also served as the Animal Husbandry & Fisheries Minister in Kiran Kumar Reddy’s cabinet from 2011 to 2014.
8. Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas — Deputy Chief Minister — Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education
Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas.
Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas alias Nani, who won the Eluru reserved constituency, had quit as Congress MLAs in 2012 to join the YSR Congress Party. He was sworn in as a Deputy Chief Minister. He will also serve as the Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education. He won by a margin of just 4,063 votes.
9. Cherukuvada Sri Ranganatha Raju — Minister of Housing
Cherukuvada Sri Ranganatha Raju.
Former MLA Cherukuvada Sri Ranganatha Raju, who defected to the YSR Congress Party from the Telugu Desam Party just last year, won the Achanta constituency by a margin of around 12,800 votes. Mr. Raju was an MLA from the Athili constituency from 2004 to 2009.
10. Taneti Vanitha — Minister of Women and Child Welfare Minister
Taneti Vanitha.
Taneti Vanitha is a former MLA from Gopalapuram constituency who was suspended in 2012 by TDP for indulging in “anti-party” activities. Shortly later, she joined YSRCP. Vanitha is among the three women Ministers sworn-in to the cabinet.
11. Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao — Minister of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs
Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao.
Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao alias Kodali Nani won the Gudivada constituency for the fourth straight time last month, defeating Avinash Devineni by a margin of around 19,000 votes. His decision to leave TDP to join YSRCP in 2012 came as a jolt to the former. Ever since, he has been the centre of several controversies revolving around his rivalry with TDP.
12. Perni Venkataramaiah — Minister of Transport, Information and PR
Perni Venkataramaiah.
Perni Venkataramaiah alias Perni Nani defeated former minister Kollu Ravindra by 5,590 votes from the Machilipatnam Assembly constituency in Krishna district. Nani had lost to Kollu Ravindra in 2014 polls by over 15,000 votes. Perni Nani's father Perni Krishnamurthy was also a politician. A Congress MLA in 2004, 2009, he also served as the whip in Kiran Kumar Reddy's government. He resigned in 2013 to join YSRCP.
13. Vellampalli Srinivas — Minister of Endowments
Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao.
Vellampalli Srinivas, who defeated Shabana Musarat Khatoon by a margin of 7,671 votes, earlier contested the same seat in 2014 under the TDP. Ironically, he lost to Jaleel Khan, Ms. Shabana’s father, who shifted loyalties to the TDP after winning on a YSRCP ticket.
14. Mekathoti Sucharita — Minister of Home and Disaster Management
Mekathoti Sucharita.
Mekathoti Sucharita, MLA from Prathipadu Assembly constituency and Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is set to create history by becoming the first woman minister from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community from the district. After the formation of the YSRCP in March 2011, she was one of those MLAs who had resigned and contested in the by-elections in May 2012. Ms. Sucharita won by a majority of 17,500 votes in the by-elections. In the elections in 2019, she defeated Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad by a margin of 7398 votes.
15. Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao — Minister of Animal Husbandries, Fisheries and Marketing
Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao.
Despite not winning a seat, Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, who held the Infrastructure and investments, Ports and Airports and Natural Gas portfolios under Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has been handed the portfolios of Animal Husbandries, Fisheries, and Marketing. He was defeated by Anagani Satya Prasad of TDP in the Repalle Assembly constituency. He also served as Excise Minister under the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
16. Balineni Srinivasa Reddy — Minister of Energy; Forest and Environment; Science and Technology
Balineni Srinivasa Reddy.
A five-time MLA and a long-time loyalist of the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Balineni Srinvasa Reddy has been handed the portfolios of Energy, Forest and Environment, and Science and Technology. He had earlier served as the Minister for Mines, and Minister for Handlooms & Textiles, Spinning Mills, and Small Scale Industries. He also served as the whip for the YSR Congress Party after its formation. He was elected from the Ongole constituency, where he won by a margin of 22,245 votes.
17. Audimulapu Suresh — Minister of Education
Audimulapu Suresh.
Civil servant-turned-politician Audimulapu Suresh, who quit his post in the Indian Railways to enter politics in 2009, has been handed the Education ministry. He won from the Yerragondapalem constituency.
18. Anil Kumar Poluboina — Minister of Irrigation (Water Resources)
Anil Kumar Poluboina.
Said to be a loyalist of Jagan, Anil Kumar Poluboina won the Nellore City constituency by a tiny margin of 1,988 votes. He has been handed the Irrigation portfolio.
19. Mekapati Goutham Reddy — Minister of Industries, Commerce, Information Technology
Mekapati Goutham Reddy.
Mekapati Goutham Reddy, who won from the Atmakur constituency, is the son of former MLA Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy. He has been handed the portfolios of Industries, Commerce and Information Technology.
20. Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy — Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development; Mines and Geology
Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy.
Six-time MLA Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, who was a minister in Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet, has been handed the ministries of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, and Mines and Geology. He won from the Punganur Assembly constituency by a margin of 43,555 votes.
21. Narayana Swamy — Deputy Chief Minister — Minister of Excise and Commercial Taxes
K. Narayana Swamy.
K. Narayana Swamy, who won from the Gangadhara Nellore constituency, is one among the five Deputy Chief Ministers sworn in to the cabinet. He will also be responsible for the Excise and Commercial Taxes portfolio.
22. Bugganna Rajendranath — Minister of Finance and Planning, Legislative Affairs
Bugganna Rajendranath.
Bugganna Rajendranath, who had served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature, won from the Dhone Assembly constituency for the second consecutive time.
23. Gummanur Jayaram — Minister of Labour, Employment, Training; Factories
Gummanur Jayaram.
P Jayaram alias Gummanur Jayaram, who won from the Alur Constituency, will serve as the Minister of Labour, Employment, Training, in addition to handling the Factories portfolio.
24. Malagundla Sankaranarayana — Minister for BC Welfare
Malagundla Sankaranarayana.
Malagundla Sankaranarayana won the Penukonda constituency by a margin of 15,085 seats, beating the incumbent B. K. Parthasarathi of the Telugu Desam Party, who held the seat since 2009. Mr. Sankaranarayana was sworn in as a minister. Mr. Sankaranarayana earlier served as his party’s district head for the Hindupur Parliamentary constituency. He has six pending criminal cases against him.
25. Amzath Basha S. B . — Deputy Chief Minister — Minister of Minority Affairs
Amzath Basha.
The lone Muslim minister on the list, Amzath Basha S. B. was sworn in as one of the five Deputy Chief Ministers. He won the Kadapa constituency by a margin of around 55,000 votes. He was the incumbent MLA, having won the seat in 2014 by 45,000 votes. He will also serve as the Minister of Minority Affairs. Notably, this is the sixth consecutive time that the Kadapa assembly constituency has elected a Muslim, ever since the Telugu Desam Party had fielded Kaleel Basha S. A. in 1994.
