Hyderabad: N. Chandrababu Naidu was today sworn in as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time. He will head a 25-member coalition government comprising Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Governor S. Abdul Nazeer administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Council of Ministers at the sprawling ground of Kesarapalli IT park near Gannavaram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda were present.
The ministers included Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, TDP Andhra Pradesh president K. Atchannaidu, Kollu Ravindra, Nadendla Manohar, P. Narayana, Vangalapudi Anita, Kandula Durgesh, Satya Kumar Yadav, Nimmala Ramanaidu, N. Mohammed Farook, Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, Payyavula Keshav, Anagani Satyaprasad, Kolusu Parthasarathi, Dola Bala Veeranjaneyaswami, Gottipst Ravi, Gummidi Sandhya Rani, B.C. Janardhan Reddy, T.G. Bharat, S. Savita, Vasamshetty Subhash, Kondapalli Srinivas and Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy.
There are 21 MLAs of TDP, three of the Jana Sena – Pawan Kalyan, Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh – and the lone member of BJP Satya Kumar Yadav in the new Cabinet.
As many as 17 of the 25 members sworn in are first-time ministers. They also included eight first-time MLAs – Pawan Kalyan, Lokesh, Durgesh, Sandhya Rani, T.G. Bharat, S. Savita, Vasamshetty Subhash and Rambhupal Reddy.
The social composition of the Cabinet comprises eight ministers of backward classes, two of Scheduled Castes, one ST, one Muslim and 12 upper castes, including four from of the powerful Kapu community represented by Pawan Kalyan, four Kammas, three Reddys and one Vaishya.
Barring Nellore, Bapatla and East Godavari which got two berths each, 14 districts have one minister each and eight districts are unrepresented.
Naidu gave preference to the youth in the constitution of the Cabinet, overlooking several senior MLAs who were ministers in the past. This was in tune with his promise during the election campaign that the youth will be given priority by the party. He appears to have followed the theme both in allotment of tickets and Cabinet formation.
By selecting eight first-time MLAs and those coming from families which do not have a political background as ministers, Naidu sent a clear message that he expects the youth to lead the party in the future as he and other seniors may be too old by the next elections. In this context, Naidu has designated his son Lokesh to the frontlines of the new government.
Several prominent leaders who were sidelined in Cabinet formation included former Union Ministers Sujana Chowdary and Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, Kanna Laxminarayan, Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, Paritala Sunitha, Konathala Ramakrishna, Satyanarayana Pithani, Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary, Ayyana Patrudu and Dhulipalla Narendra. Payyavula Keshav, a fifth time MLA, was inducted into the Cabinet for the first time.
The gathering at the ceremony included film stars Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi.
