Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu will take oath as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on June 12.
Prior to which, Chandrababu will attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony that is likely to be held on June 8 or 9.
Speculations are on whether allies Janasena and BJP will be partners in Chandrababu's cabinet and the leaders who would get berths. Discussions are being held on whether the party's national general secretary Lokesh, who was active in TDP's coming to power, join the cabinet or take key responsibilities in the party. This time, many leaders won with huge victory margins. It is expected that Chandrababu will favour leaders who have a clean image.
The importance of youth in the party has been increasing for some time now. There is a possibility of giving more priority to the youth, weaker sections and women than the seniors in the party.
Madhavi Reddy in Kadapa, Sindhura Reddy in Puttaparthi and Savitha in Penukonda contested in Rayalaseema district for the first time and won. Again, Bandaru Shravani, Nelawala Vijayashree from SC category, Shirishadevi and Jagadeeswari from ST category won. This apart, Madhavi, Yanamala Divya and Savita are winners from the backward community.
It is being speculated that one or two of these leaders may get a chance in the cabinet. This time, a large number of women were elected from Rayalaseema. If the party decides to give a chance to candidates who won as legislators for the second time among the youth, there are Soumya and Anita from the SC community who can be given preference. It is being reported that Aditi Gajapathiraju, daughter of senior-most leader of the party, Ashoka Gajapathiraju, who won from Vizianagaram, will be considered.
Among other winners include Atchannaidu from Srikakulam, Kuna Ravikumar, Murali Mohan from Vizianagaram, R.V.S.K. Ranga Rao, Kala Venkata Rao and Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Ayyanna patradu and Palla Srinivasa Rao from Visakhapatnam district.
From East Godavari district, there are Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Chinarajappa, Jyotula Nehru, Butchaiah Chaudhary and Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy. Pitani Satyanarayana, Nimmala Ramanayadu and Raghuramakrishnam Raja are from West Godavari. Parthasaradhi, Gadde Rammohan, Kollu Ravindra, Bonda Uma and Chinna Tataiah are from Krishna district. Again, Kanna Lakshminarayana, Ananda Babu, Dhulipalla Narendra, Yarapatineni Srinivasa Rao and Shravan Kumar from Guntur district may also be considered.
Depending on whether Lokesh will be included in the cabinet or not, some other senior names can be considered in Guntur district.
The other winners are Gottipati Ravikumar, Sambasivarao, Vijaykumar and Bala Veeranjaneyaswamy from Prakasam district. Narayana, Ramanarayana Reddy and Chandramohan Reddy from Nellore district.
Along with Nallari Kishore Kumar Reddy and Amarnath Reddy from Chittoor district, there is a possibility to include one candidate from SC category for consideration. Farooq, Naseer and Shah Jahan Bhasha were elected from the minorities.
The names of Payyavula Keshav, Kaluva Srinivasulu, Paritala Sunitha from Anantapur district, Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, BC Janardhan Reddy from Kurnool district, Sudhakar Yadav, Madhavireddy, Bhumi Reddy Rangopal Reddy from Kadapa district are also being discussed in the party circles.
Discussions are being held on whether Janasena president Pawan Kalyan will join the cabinet or give the chance to his party's legislators while taking other responsibilities himself. If he joins the cabinet, there is a chance that he will bag the Deputy Chief Minister's berth along with a few key departments. As for the MLAs from SC, ST, BC and other upper castes who won from Janasena, there is a discussion that maximum four persons from each category can get representation. Senior MLA Nadendla Manohar is expected to be there and Konatala Ramakrishna may also be considered from BC, sources said.
This apart, two legislators from the BJP are likely to get berths in the cabinet. In 2014, when the cabinet was formed together with the BJP, two of the five MLAs were given opportunity.
This time, there are eight MLAs but a maximum of two can get berths. The names of senior leaders including Sujana Chaudhary, Kamineni Srinivas, Satyakumar and Parthasaradhi are doing the rounds. The chance of TDP MLAs will be affected depending on which districts and categories the Janasena and BJP MLAs are chosen from.
It is also believed that TDP will join the Union cabinet and secure some of the key berths.
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