Backward and Scheduled Castes get a major share

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has gone for an election gamble in reorganizing his Cabinet. The central idea or assumption behind the rejig of his ministry appears that people vote according to communities. Whether it was Prashant Kishor’s idea or Jagan Mohan Reddy’s own calculations, this theory might backfire. There are eight ministers from the forward castes, ten from BCs, five from SCs, one each from STs and Muslims in the 25-member Cabinet. Major communities that were not given representation were Kammas and Rajus. Eleven old ministers would continue and 14 new ministers have stepped in. When Jagan Mohan Reddy took oath as Chief Minister in 2019, he said about 90 percent of the cabinet will be replaced by new faces halfway through the term. Strong ministers like Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy and Botsa Satyanarayana and talented ones such as BugganaRajendranath Reddy had to be retained. Sidiri Appala Raju, Taneti Vanitha, Amjad Basha, PinipeViswaroop, Gummanuru Jayaram, Adimulapu Suresh, Chelluboyina Venugopal, Narayana Swamy stayed because the Chief Minister could not find suitable persons to replace them taking into considerations factors such as caste, region and religion. All the three Nanis - Kodali, Perni, Alla are out of the new Cabinet. Kodali Nani, a Kamma, might be given some chairmanship of a corporation. The ministers who lost their jobs and disappointed aspirants may reconcile in due course of time. But the impression gained by the people would certainly matter. Leaving out some communities altogether may not be a great idea. Kammas and Rajus, at least, should have been given token representation to signal that the CM is not against any particular community. A Chief Minister should appear to be inclusive. While some districts are going without representation, some old districts like Chittoor, East Godavari, West Godavari and Guntur are well represented. Each of these four districts has three ministers.

It seems Bothsa Satyanarayana’s views were given importance. His friends and followers such as ChelluboyinaVenugopalkrishna, Pidika Rajanna Dora, Gudivada Amarnath were given berths. Even Karumuri Nageswara Rao and Dadisetti Raja also could be seen as close to Bothsa. Speaker Tammineni Sitaram, who has been an aspirant of a ministerial berth is another broken heart. From Sirkakulam, senior leader Dharmana Prasada Rao was given a berth in place of his brother Krishna Das and Appalaraju was retained. Jagan Mohan Reddy should be complimented for limiting the number of ministers from Reddy community. His calculations that all Kamma voters would vote for Chandrababu Naidu of TDP may not be right. At the same time all BCs  may not vote for YSRCP in spite of the ten ministerial berths. In the same way Jagan’s bête noire Raghurama Krishnam Raju does not represent all the Kshatriyas.  Ashok Gajapati Raju of TDP is identified only with Vijayanagaram. Kshatriyas of West Godavari district don’t have any relationship with him. Kapus also did not get the usual representation they get in any ministry. They are supposed to be antagonistic towards SCs, BCs and other communities in the district in which they are dominant. Brahmins and Vysyas may be smaller in number. Together they may not be even four percent of the AP population. But they are in live touch with people of all communities. They are vocal and their opinion is respected by people in general. It may not be right to calculate on basis of assumptions of voting behaviour of the people.  Whether this kind of calculations stand the test of election would be known only in 2024. Then it would be too late to make any corrections. That was why it seemed as though Jagan Mohan Reddy has gone for a gamble.

(The writer is a senior journalist and Editor, primepost, a news website based out of Hyderabad. The views expressed are personal.)