Why these ministers dropped from cabinet?

Hyderabad: Four ministers, all Reddys, were dropped for their poor track record. J C Diwakar Reddy, who was the panchayat raj minister in the previous regime, was dropped because he indulged in factional violence in his native Anantapur district bringing the Congress into disrepute, sources said.

In fact, there were several reasons for ignoring Diwakar Reddy. Apart from the faction politics, Diwakar Reddy had kicked up a row by entering into a war of words with fellow minister G Surya Rao after the latter alleged that Diwakar Reddy as in-charge minister of East Godavari district had taken bribe from sand mining contractors.

Besides, Diwakar had also encouraged his brother J C Prabhakar Reddy when the latter abused RTA officials for seizing the buses owned by the family for violating the law.

By evening when they came to know about his non-inclusion in the Cabinet, angry followers of Diwakar Reddy attacked the office of a Telugu daily in Ananatpur district. Rajasekhar, Tadipatry reporter of the daily suffered 35 per cent burn injuries when the mob tried to set fire to the daily’s office. He was rushed to Anantpur government hospital, where his condition is said to be serious. However, Diwakar Reddy denied involvement of his supporters in the incident and said it was an attempt by opponents to malign him.

In the case of K Jana Reddy, who had served as home minister in the previous cabinet, his not getting Congress candidates elected from his native Nalgonda district is said to be the main reason for his not finding a berth in the new Cabinet. Also, his proximity to Union minister S Jaipal Reddy, his utterances on Telangana and complaints that a member of his family was involved in a licence renewal racket involving clubs also contributed to his downfall.

As far as the other two ministers are concerned, non-performance is said to be the main reason for their exclusion this time.

Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy, who was the civil supplies minister, was dropped as he failed to take action against rice millers who resorted to hoarding leading to scarcity of rice and an abnormal increase in its price in the open market. Similarly, R Damodar Reddy was dropped because of non-performance as IT minister in the previous Cabinet. At a time when the IT sector was going through a crisis, Damodar Reddy failed to take any steps, which is said to have upset the chief minister. However, his brother R Venkata Reddy has been accommodated in the Cabinet.

Behind The Scene: Cabinet berths with a rider

Ministerial berths for two Congress legislators from the city is said to have come with a tag, that they should ensure the victory of the ruling party in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections scheduled to be held shortly. Khairatabad MLA D Nagender and Goshamahal legislator Mukesh Goud have made it to the state cabinet. The grapevine has it that they were specifically told by chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy that along with the ministerial responsibilities, they should work for the victory of the party in the civic polls. They are in for a bonanza in case the Congress does well in the polls, but what if it does not?

Why Congress Not Boasting Victory On TDP, PRP?

The elections are over and the Congress party has comfortably won over the TDP and PRP. While the losing sides have been doing an extensive introspection on where they have gone wrong and the causes for defeat, the Congress has been very silent and passive on that one.

Many have been trying to find out the reason for this and few Congress sources reveal that they are in no way willing to let sympathy wave go for those parties. For now, the Congress is said to be focusing on winding up the existence of one or two parties since they foresee a threat with their existence.

They have five years from now to come up with a plan to achieve their mission but for now they are said to be following a rather strategic mode. Given the surprise that they sprang up with, it will be better for both TDP and PRP to watch out before they get swept away.

Diwakar dropped for sabotage

Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, who was dropped from the Cabinet on Monday, was accused of helping Opposition candidates in six seats of the district: Uravakonda, Penukonda, Hindupur, Putaparthy, Raptadu and Kalyandurg. Only Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy emerged successful from Kalyandurg, the Telugu Desam took the rest.

Mr Jana Reddy was also charged with alleged sabotage. Sources said he used his clout to get a weak candidate put up at Miryalguda seat, which allowed the CPI(M) to record its only victory in the state.

The Chief Minister viewed this seriously as he was keen to defeat all CPI(M) candidates. However, Mr Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, a five-time MLA from Chittoor district, was inducted into the cabinet, though he allegedly helped Opposition candidates win from four Assembly seats in the district.

Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, Kadapa MP and son of the Chief Minister, is said to have played a key role in roping in Mr Ramachandra Reddy. The Chief Minister dropped Mr Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy, a longtime friend, as he wanted to accommodate Mr Gade Venkat Reddy from Guntur district.

Mr R. Damodar Reddy lost his berth to his elder brother, Mr Venkat Reddy, a four time legislator from the neighbouring Khammam district.

The Governor, Mr N.D. Tiwari, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers. The ceremony started at 6.40 pm with Mr Anam Ramanaryana Reddy being the first to take oath, and ended by 7.45 pm. All districts except Adilabad got representation in the ministry.

While, Guntur district got four berths, Medak was given three. Seven districts will have more than one minister.

Most of the ministers took oath in the name of God while Mr Raghuveera Reddy and Pitani Satyanarayna also took oath in the name of their parents.

Mr Botsa Satyanarayana and Mr Balineni Srinivasula Reddy could not make it to the ceremony in time, so, the Governor administered the oath for them after completing the list.

New ministers get Innova cars

It is really good news for the newly-inducted ministers of the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet.

All the new ministers would get brand new Innova cars, apart from all the luxuries at the ministers’ quarters. Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made this announcement at the informal cabinet meeting, immediately after the swearing in ceremony. It is a different matter that some of the ministers already have more luxurious cars.

However, YSR also took a serious class to the new ministers. He asked them to be careful about their functioning, especially in the selection of personal secretaries and personal assistants, who can bring bad name to the peshis.

Who Burnt ‘Sakshi’ Office In Tadipatri?

The Sakshi News Paper office was burnt down in Tadipatri today followed by the news that JC Diwakar Reddy hasn’t offered the minister portfolio in cabinet today. Many assume that JC’s yesmen could do this deed. But inside sources also suspect that the yesmen of opponent Peram Nagireddy of TDP might have done this to defame JC. It is known that there was toughest battle in Tadipatri between JC and Peram during the polling day. It is said that it is a vengeance formula taken by Peram and Co to trap JC and glue him with the curse of YSR. We have to see what step YSR would take on this issue. How he reacts and moves ahead has to be seen. Will he shown his wrath on JC or smells the opponent’s conspiracy if any? That has to be witnessed.

Rosaiah had premonition about JC?

Former panchayat raj minister J C Diwakar Reddy, who failed to make it to the state cabinet, is obviously a disappointed man.

The disappointment turned into anger, when he did not get an appointment with Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy at the camp office. He waited there for more than an hour, but was told YSR was busy. He left the place in a huff.

“Let me find out the reasons why I was left out. But that does not affect my relationship with the Chief Minister,” he said. Interestingly, it was only a couple of days ago that K Rosaiah suggestively asked JC whether he did not want to get into cabinet.

Reacting on the reports that JC was interested in becoming pro-tem Speaker, Rosaiah made this enquiry. JC said it was all media creation and he wants to become minister and not speaker.

Fact Sheet: Nagender's dream comes true!

It has been a long-cherished dream of Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender to become a minister in the Cabinet of his favourite leader Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

And his dream has come true on Monday, when he took oath as the minister. He has been a staunch loyalist of YSR and the latter had promised to make him the minister long ago. In 1999, Nagender was hoping that YSR would come to power; but it did not happen. In 2004, Nagender did not get the assembly ticket, thanks to PCC president D Srinivas; and he had to jump to the TDP to win the election. But with YSR becoming the Chief Minister, he resigned from the seat and contested again, but lost the polls to the MIM.

The ultimate chance has come now. He has won the Khairatabad seat and YSR became the CM again. And he grabbed the opportunity without wasting time!

YSR cabinet has 20 new faces

After waiting for two days in the national capital, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy finally got Madam Sonia Gandhi’s approval for the list of ministers in his cabinet and returned to Hyderabad.

According to the list, there will be 35 ministers in the YSR cabinet, which includes 20 new faces. They are: Pasupuleti Balaraju (Vizag), P Vishawarup (East Godavari), P Satyanarayana and Vatti Vasanth Kumar (West Godavari), Parthasarathy (Krishna), Gade Venkat Reddy, D Manikya Vara Prasad (Guntur), B Srinivasa Reddy (Prakasam), R Venkat Reddy (Khammam), Sunitha Lakshma Reddy (Medak), Sudershan Reddy (Nizamabad), P Ramachandra Reddy (Chittoor), Shila Mohan Reddy (Kurnool), Ahmedulla (Kadapa), D K Aruna, J Krishna Rao (Mahbubnagar), Danam Nagender (Hyderabad), Konda Surekha (Warangal), D Sridhar Babu (Karimnagar) and K Venkat Reddy (Nalgonda).

Of them, only Gade Venkat Reddy held the ministry in the erstwhile Congress regimes and all the others are fresh faces. So, it is a good opportunity to the new comers to prove themselves!

Congress' Corruption Mark Vs TDP's 'Kamma Mark'

Whenever there is a political party that is formed, it has always been labeled with one mark that can actually turn against its favor in crucial times. So when it comes to the political scenario in Andhra Pradesh, the two major parties that we are talking about is the Congress party and the Telugu Desam Party. Each of them have got their own dark marks and while the Congress has been known for its exorbitant and deep rooted levels of corruption, the TDP is being labeled as a rather caste oriented party or a ‘Kamma’ favoring party.

While the debate has been on for a long time, even this time it is being said that though the Congress has got embroiled in tales of controversies and corruption related issues, they were able to retain power since they came up with some good initiatives. On the other hand, the TDP folks say that there is nothing special about it and they have lost out by just one percent of votes and these belonged to their own community folks. Some of the senior members of the TDP have stated that they were banking on their Kamma vote banks but due to the presence of parties like Lok Satta headed by JP who is also a Kamma, their votes got split and went into a negative account.

They also said that due to the seat sharing basis, some of the noted Kamma contenders were not given a chance and this led to an anti-feeling among the Kamma community heads that resulted in the loss to the party. While this has been their version, the experts say that more than the ‘Kamma’ factor, it is the inability of the Mahakootami to actually drive across their political agendas clearly to the voters and at the same time convince them about their coalition. With an unpredictable KCR around, it was a bit difficult for the voters to see a Mahakootami government standing for long. Despite all these practical hiccups, it is sad to see the Telugu Desam folks still clinging on to the ‘Kamma’ slogan.

It is about time they realize that caste and community feeling does not really work anymore. Perhaps, the example of Chiranjeevi serves as the best one in this context for the TDP folks. At the same time, Congress also must ensure that they wipe away the mark of ‘Corruption’ from their list and if they manage to come out of that, then it is without doubt that they can emerge as a long standing reliable party for the Telugu people.

Rajya Sabha For Akkineni Nageshwara Rao

It is often said that chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy is one man who does not forget those who help him and he does not hesitate to go out of his way to return favors. Right now, something like that is said to be happening between him and Yuvasamrat Nagarjuna Akkineni.

It is known news that during the canvassing time, Nag created a sensation by appearing for ads and speaking about the government projects. Now, it is payback time for YS as per sources. It is heard from them that a gift for Nag is being prepared from YSR and that is giving a seat in Rajya Sabha for his father Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

However, it is yet to be known if ANR will take this offer or not. It has been quite a while since the legendary icon has been seen at cultural events or other film functions. It will not be long before we will know the outcome on this one.

In fact, Nag’s other big deals with Congress government will continue as promised by the latter earlier, say sources.