Two legislators belonging to the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) led by actor-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi were inducted into the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet here on Thursday.Mr. C. Ramachandraiah, MLC, and Mr. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, MLA, were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan, at a brief and simple function that began at 11.43 a.m. on the lawns of the Raj Bhavan.
Chief Minister Kiran Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Raj Rajanarasimha, Council chairman A. Chakrapani, Mr. Chiranjeevi, several Ministers, MPs and MLAs and senior officials were present at the swearing-in-ceremony.
With the inclusion of the two Ministers, the strength of the State Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, now stands at 39. Both Mr. Ramachandraiah and Mr. Srinivasa Rao, the latter representing Anakapalle Assembly constituency in Visakhapatnam district, originally belong to the Telugu Desam and joined the PRP later. They served as Members of Parliament earlier.
Mr. Kiran Kumar had sought permission of the Congress top brass during his visit to New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday to completely re-haul his Cabinet, by dropping the dissidents and taking some new faces on board. But, the AICC leadership did not apparently share his perspective and wanted a limited Cabinet expansion, lest it trigger discontent in the party ahead of Assembly byelections later this year.
However, the Congress high command has reportedly permitted the Chief Minister to drop Minister for Textiles P. Shankar Rao from the Cabinet as he has been openly criticising Mr. Kiran Kumar and levelling serious charges against his Cabinet colleagues.
