Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao inducted ten more ministers into his Cabinet today, bringing the total strength of the Council of Ministers to 12 including himself.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao inducted ten more ministers into his Cabinet today, bringing the total strength of the Council of Ministers to 12 including himself.
Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at a simple ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan lawns. All the ten ministers took the oath in Telugu and in the name of God.
After the swearing in, the new ministers were greeted by the Governor and the Chief Minister.
This is the first cabinet expansion after KCR took over as the Chief Minister of the state along with Mohd Mehmood Ali on December 12, following the December 2018 Legislative Assembly elections in which the TRS secured a massive mandate for the second consecutive term. The Chief Minister, Home Minister Mahmood Ali, Advisors to the government, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Chief Secretary S K Joshi and other top officials were present on the occasion. The ceremony was completed in 22 minutes.
The first one to take oath was Allolla Indrakaran Reddy, and he was followed by Talasani Srinivas Yadav, G Jagadish Reddy, Etala Rajender, Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, Koppula Eshwar, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, V Srinivasa Goud, Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Chamakura Malla Reddy.
There are six new faces in the council of ministers. They are those of Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Koppula Eashwar, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, S Niranjan Reddy, V Srinivas Goud and Ch Malla Reddy.
Of the four ministers who were also ministers in the previous TRS government, Etala Rajender was the finance minister in the previous team, Jagadish Reddy had held the power portfolio, Indrakaran Reddy had held housing, law and endowments, and Srinivas Yadav had held animal husbandry. Among the new faces, Eshwar was the Government Whip in the previous administration, Niranjan Reddy was Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board, and Prashant Reddy was Vice-Chairman of Mission Bhagiratha, the prestigious water-grid programme of the TRS government. Former agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has been elected Speaker of the present Assembly, and former minister T Padma Rao is likely to be elected Deputy Speaker.
While Home Minister Mahmood Ali is from the Legislative Council, all the other 11 ministers including the Chief Minister are from the Assembly.
With the exception of the old (united) Khammam and Medak districts, all districts got representation in the Council of Ministers, with today's expansion.
The budget (vote on account) session of the legislature is scheduled to begin on February 22.
After today's expansion of the ministry, there is scope for the appointment of six more ministers. The Chief Minister is likely to induct some more ministers after the Parliament elections.