At least five ministers from the old team may not make it to the Cabinet this time. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, has indicated that he would leave out some “non-performers” in his new team.

The State Cabinet will be constituted on May 25, with 26 to 30 ministers. The Chief Minister will submit his list of ministers to the Congress high command on Friday. It will be finalised based on the the Central Cabinet combination. “The Chief Minister has been given a free hand to form his team, but he will finalise it after the Central Cabinet formation is completed,” the sources said.

Dr Reddy left for New Delhi on Thursday to participate in discussions on the Cabinet formation. The names of Mr D. Sridhar, Mr V. Vasanth-kumar, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Mr N. Manohar, Mr K. Venkata Reddy, Mr Perni Nani, Mr B. Srinivasa Reddy, Mr Rambhupal Reddy, Mr Sailajanath, Mr Mallu Bhattivikramarka, Mr G. Ravikumar and Mr D. Nagender figure in the “youth” quota.

The name of Dr Geeta Reddy, an outgoing minister, is up for consideration for the post of the Speaker. It appears that senior leaders like Mr D. Prasada Rao, Mr.Mukesh Goud,Mr P. Lakshmaiah, Mr K. Jana Reddy, Mr S. Vijaya-ramaraju, Mr Botsa Satya-narayana, Mr P Subhash Chandra Bose, Mr Kanna Laxminarayana will be reinducted.

Also appearing in this list are the names of Mr Gade Venkata Reddy, Mr Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, Mrs Sabita Indra Reddy, Mr Kasu Krishna Reddy will be re-inducted.

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Thursday said he would expand his cabinet May 25 but ruled out appointing a deputy chief minister.

YSR, who took oath as the chief minister for the second consecutive term Wednesday evening, said he would induct ministers in his cabinet May 25 and promised to give proper representation to all regions.

He was speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists.

He ruled out appointing a deputy chief minister as suggested by a section of party leaders from Telangana before the elections.

YSR, who led the party to a comfortable majority of 156 seats in the 294-member assembly and bagged 33 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, also ruled out a role for himself in national politics. “My rule is limited to the state,” he said.

To another query about the central cabinet, the chief minister said Congress was not a regional party to demand its pound of flesh. “If need be, we will have to make certain adjustments,” he said to a query if he was keen to get some key portfolios for the state in the central cabinet.

YSR evaded a direct reply when a reporter asked him if the verdict was against bifurcation of the state. “The party which has come up in the name of Telangana (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) had not fared well in these elections. There is a leadership crisis in that party,” he said.

He said Telangana sentiment was there in some areas of the region and hinted that the issue of separate state was created by TRS leader K. Chandrasekhara Rao. “If Chandrasekhara Rao was accommodated in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet in 1999, he would not have formed the TRS,” he remarked.

Claiming that Congress was not against carving out a separate Telangana, he said the party was for addressing the issues likely to arise by the creation of separate state.

Stating that welfare and development were the two focus areas of his government, the chief minister said it would continue the programmes taken up during last five years more efficiently.

“We won this election because of our credibility and courage. We never hesitated in spending money to meet people’s needs. We made no new promises but said we will continue what we were doing for last five years. People trusted us and not the opposition which made deceptive promises,” he said.

“Chandrababu Naidu, during his nine-year rule, had said that there are no free lunches. He opposed free electricity to agriculture and collected user charges in hospitals. But in this election he promised all for free,” added YSR.

When Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy became the first Chief Minister in the State to be sworn in for a second consecutive term after serving a full five-year tenure on Wednesday, it was the 22nd swearing-in ceremony of Chief Ministers since the formation of the State.

Dr. Reddy is the 14th Chief Minister of the State, while Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the first who served from January 11, 1956, to January 10, 1960. The others who were at the helm of the State were Damodaram Sanjeevaiah, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, P.V.Narasimha Rao, Jalagam Vengal Rao, Marri Channa Reddy, T.Anjaiah, Bhavanam Venkatram, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, N. T. Rama Rao, N. Janardhana Reddy and N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Longest first term

While Dr. Reddy completed five years and five days in the first term (the longest first term) and commenced his second term from Wednesday, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy too was the Chief Minister for two consecutive terms from 1964 to 1967 and again from 1967 to 1971.

Though Mr. Naidu led the Telugu Desam government for two terms consecutively, his first term lasted four years and the second four-and-a-half years. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Channa Reddy, Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy were the other Congress Chief Ministers who served two terms but not consecutively.

A trained doctor, Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR as he is popularly known, has learnt to feel the public pulse as he takes over Wednesday as Andhra Pradesh chief minister for the second successive term and sets new records.

He came up the hard way in his public life spanning three decades and emerged as one of the strongest leaders the Congress has produced in the state.

The 60-year-old broke the jinx by becoming the first Congress chief minister to retain power since legendary N.T. Rama Rao launched the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 1980s.

Last week, he had become the first chief minister in the state’s history to complete a full five-year term.

He has always been a winner. Elected to the state assembly for the fifth time, YSR is also a four-time Lok Sabha member and holds the record of never losing an election.

Without promises of free TV sets and cash doles and without banking on filmstars’ glamour, he proved why he is more popular among masses.

Popular as ‘people’s leader’ among his followers, YSR tasted success despite facing a hostile poll campaign from both the TDP-led four party Grand Alliance and Praja Rajyam party of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi.

YSR also emerged as one of the few leaders in the country to retain power beating the anti-incumbency factor. What has made his performance more creditable is the fact that he made no big promises and instead highlighted his performance versus the “poor credibility record” of his main rival N. Chandrababu Naidu of TDP.

Banking on his performance and the numerous welfare schemes his government launched during the last five years, YSR retained power despite a three-cornered contest.

The man who ran the Congress campaign on his shoulders emerged victorious in the face of hectic electioneering by top stars of the tinsel world in favour of TDP and Praja Rajyam.

When he took over as chief minister for the first time on May 14, 2004, it was a dream came true for YSR. The leader from the bad lands of Rayalaseema had come up the hard way, after narrowly missing power in 1999.

Born in a middle-class family at Pulivendula, a small town in Kadapa district, on July 8, 1949, YSR made a modest beginning. Eldest of the five sons of Y.S. Raja Reddy, a dynamic local leader in his heydays, he evinced interests in politics while studying at M.R. Medical College, Gulbarga in Karnataka.

After completing his MBBS, YSR served as medical officer at the Jammalamadugu Mission Hospital for a brief period. In 1973, he established a 70-bed charitable hospital.

He entered active politics in 1978 and was elected to the state assembly from Pulivendula. He served as state minister from 1980 to 1983 and retained the assembly seat in 1983 even when NTR swept to power with a historic victory.

Sensing a potential leader in him, then prime minister Indira Gandhi appointed YSR president of the state unit of Congress when he was only 34. In 1989, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa and held the seat till 1999, when he shifted again to state politics. From 1998 to 2000, he again served as president of the state Congress.

Though the party lost the 1999 state elections, YSR emerged as the strongest leader of the party and became the leader of opposition.

The year 2003 was a turning point in his political career, as he undertook a 64-day padyatra, or walkathon, across the state. Covering 1,500 km under the scorching sun, he received petitions from people about their problems, mainly relating to agriculture and unemployment.

It was this campaign and a strong anti-incumbency wave against Chandrababu Naidu’s government which catapulted YSR to power.

His experiences during the padyatra helped him shape his policies after assuming office as he gave free electricity to farmers, waived their loans, introduced several welfare schemes like pension for the aged, widows and handicapped, housing for poor, Rs.2-a-kg rice, Rajiv Arogyasri or community health insurance scheme and a massive programme to build irrigation projects.

Thanks to these initiatives, the Congress has won 156 of Andhra Pradesh’s 294 seats and bagged 33 of its 42 Lok Sabha seats this time.

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