The political corridors are caught up in heated discussions these days in Andhra Pradesh, as chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is getting ready for the cabinet exercise.
While the discussion is on the probable names to make it to the cabinet this time, the other discussion is on whether it will be total revamp or a rejig. Some people say that the chief minister is getting ready to make 100 percent change in the cabinet. In fact, this was what he had said after the cabinet formation on June 8, 2019.
He told his party MLAs that he would drop all the ministers and take new faces after two-and-a-half years, half of the regime. Though the scheduled time is over, the chief minister delayed the exercise as the ministers did not have the chance to work for almost one year due to covid 19 lockdown.
The ministers could not move out to meet the people in the districts as the lockdown was imposed from March 2020 to March 2021. There were four phases of lockdowns from March 24, 2020 to May 31, 2020.
Then it was the turn of unlocks from June 1, 2020 to till date, but seriously the ministers could not do much for one year from March 2020.
Because of this, the chief minister is said to be giving some relief to a handful of the ministers to continue. The decision was taken following the caste equations as the chief minister is not able to find better alternatives from various castes.
This would mean that he would continue a few and take the new faces to fill the vacancies. If all ministers are dropped and new faces are taken in, it would be called the cabinet revamp. However, if a few ministers are retained and the balance are taken in, it would be called the rejig.
What is in store for the state government is known only when the chief minister announces the date and the names of his new colleagues. Until then, it’s all speculation.
