The women legislators in the AP Assembly are eagerly waiting for the call from the chief minister’s office as Jagan Mohan Reddy is set to revamp his cabinet on April 11. As the cabinet strength should not go beyond 25 including the chief minister, the competition is tough with more aspirants eyeing on the cabinet berth.
The present cabinet of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has three women, one deputy chief minister and two ministers. In the caste equation, the deputy chief minister post is given to the Scheduled Tribes, the two other posts are given to the SCs.
Kurupam MLA Pamula Pushpa Sreevani is currently the deputy chief minister holding the charge of the Tribal welfare ministry. The other two women members, Mekathoti Sucharitha from Prathipadu in Guntur district are holding the Home Ministry while Taneti Vanitha from Kovvur in West Godavari district is holding the women and child welfare.
It is not clear yet whether the chief minister would keep the same number in the rejig or would give more representation to the women. Among the SCs, Jonnalagadda Padmavathi, K V Ushasri Charan, both from Ananthapur and Dasari Sudha from Kadapa district are in the race.
Among the STs, K Bhagyalakshmi from Paderu, Nagulapalli Dhanalakshmi from Rampachodavaram are in the race for the cabinet berth this time. While R K Roja from Nagari in Chittoor district is said to be the frontrunner, Vidudala Rajani from Chilakaluripet and Reddy Shanthi from Pathapatnam constituency are said to be strong contenders for the cabinet berth.
Sources close to the chief minister say that the names of R K Roja, Dr Dasari Padma and K Bhagyalakshmi are almost confirmed, representing OC, SC and ST respectively.
