AP Cabinet reshuffled

Author: 
By Syed Amin Jafri, Special to Arab News
Publication Date: 
Tue, 2001-11-27 03:00

HYDERABAD, 27 November — Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu yesterday reshuffled his Cabinet, dropping eight ministers and inducting 11 new ones.

State Governor Dr. C. Rangarajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to six Cabinet-rank ministers and five ministers of state at an impressive ceremony at the Raj Bhavan yesterday afternoon. The strength of the Cabinet now stands at 39, with 29 Cabinet-rank ministers and 10 ministers of state. Among the 11 new ministers, as many as seven had stints in the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet earlier. They were dropped in the earlier reshuffles. Two had earlier served in the Cabinet of N. T. Rama Rao. Technically, only two of the inductees are first-timers.

Eight ministers who were dropped are Ms. S. Aruna, Ms. J. Lakshmi Padmavathi, Ms. K. Pushpaleela, Dr. N. Siva Prasad (Cabinet rank) and C. Krishna Yadav, E. Peddi Reddy, A. Prahbakar Reddy and A. Rajendra Prasad (ministers of state).

The new ministers are S. Chandramohan Reddy, Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, J. R. Pushparaj, P. Ramasubba Reddy, Dr. Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, T. Srinivas Yadav (cabinet-rank) and D. Anjaneyulu, M. Damodar Reddy, Suddala Devaiah, P. Narayanaswamy and P. Ramulu.

Later, speaking to newsmen, Chief Minister Naidu said that he is reshuffling the Cabinet after a gap of two years. He had announced the decision to reconstitute the Cabinet four days in advance and consulted cross-section of opinion before finalizing the list.

He explained that several factors were taken into consideration, including representation for different districts as well as the weaker sections and other sections. Asked why he had dropped three women and not inducted a single one, Naidu said that still the Cabinet had three women. The speaker of the State Assembly was also a woman.

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