In the first expansion-cum-reshuffle after coming to power in 2014, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday inducted into the Cabinet his son Nara Lokesh and 10 others, including four who defected to the TDP from the YSR Congress while dropping five Ministers. With this, the strength of the Cabinet rose to 26. And, this will be the one, in all probability, that takes the government into the elections in 2019.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers at a grand ceremony near the Legislature Building complex at Velagapudi near Vijayawada on Sunday.
The ceremony began with the administration of oath to the Telugu Desam Party’s A.P. president Kimidi Kala Venkat Rao (MLA from Etcherla, Srikakulam) at 9.20 a.m. Mr. Lokesh (MLC, Chittoor) took oath as Minister next exactly at 9.22 a.m., the ‘muhurtam’ fixed for the Cabinet expansion. After taking the oath, Mr. Lokesh sought blessings from his father and the Governor.
TDP politburo member Somireddi Chandramohan Reddy (MLC, Nellore), Pitani Satyanarayana (Achanta, West Godavari), who had quit the Congress and joined the TDP on the eve of 2014 elections, were among those inducted into the Cabinet.
YSR Congress MLAs who crossed over to the TDP — Ch. Adinarayana Reddy (Jammalamadugu, Kadapa), Ravu Venkata Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao (Bobbili, Vizianagaram), N. Amarnath Reddy (Palamner, Chittoor) and Bhuma Akhila Priya (Allagadda, Kurnool) — also took oath as Ministers.
The others included TDP MLAs Kalava Srinivasulu (Rayadurg, Anantapur), Nakka Anandbabu (Vemuru, Guntur) and Kothapalli Samuel Jawahar (Kovvur, West Godavari).
Mr. Kala Venkat Rao, Mr. Chandramohan Reddy (Nellore) and Mr. Pitani Satyanarayana had already served as Ministers in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Ms. Akhila Priya, whose father and TDP legislator Bhuma Nagi Reddy died after cardiac arrest last month, was the lone woman to be sworn in. The 26-year-old was elected to the Assembly in a by-election from Allagadda in Kurnool district after her mother Shobha Nagi Reddy's death in a road accident during an election campaign in 2014.
Mr. Naidu dropped five Ministers—Palle Raghunath Reddy, R. Kishore Babu, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, P. Sujata and K. Mrinalini. Mr. Lokesh's mother Bhuvaneswari, wife Brahmini, father-in-law and maternal uncle and actor N. Balakrishna and other family members also attended the ceremony.
Mr. Lokesh, the Chief Minister’s only son, was elected to the Legislative Council recently. The 34-year-old graduate from Stanford Business School is the national general secretary of the TDP.
Sixteen Ministers, including two from TDP's ally Bharatiya Janata Party, took oath along with Mr. Naidu in 2014 in the first ministry.
