Andhra Pradesh: N Chandrababu Naidu will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time on Wednesday, along with 25 ministers. Among them, three are from the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and one from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). JSP chief Pawan Kalyan will become the Deputy Chief Minister, and Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, will also join the Cabinet.
Governor S Abdul Nazeer will administer the oaths of office and secrecy at a ceremony in Vijayawada at 11:27 am, following the TDP’s recent electoral victory, securing 135 of 175 seats. The JSP won 21 seats, and the BJP eight, while the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which had won 151 seats in 2019, was reduced to 11.
The ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, other chief ministers of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and celebrities such as Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, and Rajinikanth.
The list of ministers was finalized around 1:15 am on Wednesday after discussions between Naidu, Kalyan, and top BJP leaders Amit Shah and JP Nadda in Amaravati. The new ministers include JSP’s Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh and BJP’s Y Satya Kumar.
A TDP leader mentioned that one ministerial position has been kept vacant for now, maintaining a balance between experienced leaders and newcomers (17), and considering regional, caste, and gender representation.
The council of ministers will include three women, eight from backward classes, two from Scheduled Castes, one from a Scheduled Tribe, and one Muslim. There will also be four Kapus, four Kammas, three Reddys, and one Vysya. Additionally, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and Kolusu Parthasarathy, who defected from the YSRCP before the elections, will be part of the Cabinet.
Senior leaders such as Kanna Lakshminarayana, Ganta Srinivas Rao, Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary, Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy (TDP), and Konathala Ramakrishna (JSP) will not be included in the Cabinet.