Andhra Pradesh: Pawan Kalyan, Lokesh among 24 ministers to take oath with Chandrababu Naidu

Vijayawada:  A 25-member Council of Ministers in Andhra Pradesh headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu will take oath on Wednesday.

Jana Sena Party President Pawan Kalyan will be the only Deputy Chief Minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led government.

The list of 24 ministers released in the early hours of Wednesday includes three from the Jana Sena Party and one from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The rest are from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Chief Minister-designate Chandrababu Naidu sent the list of ministers to Governor S. Abdul Nazeer, who will administer the oath to him and his Council of Ministers, at a public ceremony to be held at Kesarapalli IT Park near Gannavaram Airport, Vijayawada.

The Council of Ministers include Chandrababu Naidu’s son and TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh, TDP’s Andhra Pradesh unit president K. Atchannaidu and Jana Sena Party political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar.

At 11:27 a.m., the Governor will administer the oath of office and secrecy to 74-year-old Naidu, who led NDA to a landslide victory in the recently concluded elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, other Union Ministers, leaders of NDA allies and Chief Ministers of some states will be attending the swearing-in ceremony.

Naidu finalised his ministerial team after a meeting with Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda at his residence in Amaravati late on Tuesday night.

Satya Kumar Yadav is the only BJP MLA who will be sworn in as a Minister.

Three Ministers from Jana Sena Party are Pawan Kalyan, Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh.

Naidu’s ministerial team has 17 new faces. The remaining had served as Ministers in the past.

The TDP Chief has kept one vacancy.

The Council of Ministers has three women.

Senior leader N. Mohammed Farook is the only Muslim face.

The list of Ministers includes eight from Backward Classes, three from Scheduled Castes, and one from Scheduled Tribes.

Naidu has included four ministers each from the Kamma and Kapu communities. Three from Reddy and one from Vysya communities have also found a place in the Cabinet.

While Naidu belongs to the socially and politically powerful Kamma community, Pawan Kalyan comes from the Kapu community.

The TDP-led alliance wrested power from YSRCP with a massive mandate in the elections held last month. It bagged 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly.

TDP alone won 135 seats while Jana Sena Party bagged all 21 seats it contested. The BJP won eight out of 10 seats it contested.

The YSRCP, which had 151 members in the previous Assembly, has been reduced to just 11.

–IANS