4 sacked, 13 inducted into AP Ministry

HYDERABAD, Oct 1 (PTI) — In a major reshuffle, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu today sacked four ministers and inducted 13 new faces into his Ministry, taking the strength of the Council of Ministers to 37.

The ministers dismissed were, Mr T. Srinivas Yadav (Labour and Employment), Mr S.V. Subba Reddy (Road and Buildings), Mr Nettam Raghuram (Excise and Prohibition) and Mr Ramkishen Rao (Forest).

Seven ministers of Cabinet rank and six ministers of state with independent charge were sworn in by the Governor, Dr C Rangarajan, at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.

Minister for Labour and Employ-ment T. Srinivas Yadav's exit comes in the wake of induction of Mr C. Krishna Yadav into the Cabinet while the berth to Mr Mohan Reddy compensated the ouster of Mr S.V. Subba Reddy.

Mr Nettam Raghuram of Krishna district is replaced by Mr Devineni Venkata Ramana while Mr Ramkishen Rao of Karimnagar gave way to Mr E. Peddi Reddy.

Following is the list of the new Cabinet. Portfolios would be announced later.

Cabinet rank: Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, Mr P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Mr T. Devender Goud, Mr A. Madhava Reddy, Mr K. Vidyadhar Rao, Mr S. Satyanarayana, Mr T. Sitaram, Mr K. Srihari, Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, Mr M. Satyananarayana, Mr T Nageswara Rao, Mr B. Veera Reddy, Dr M. Janardhan Reddy, Mr Padala Aruna, Mr S. Chandramohan Reddi, Mr A. Chandrasekhar, Mr K. Chandrasekhara Rao, Mr B. Gopalakrishan Reddi, Mr B. Satyanarayana Murthy, Ms Yella Reddy, Mr P. Chandrasekhar, Mr S.A. Khaleel Basha, Mr B.V. Mohan Reddy, K. Pratibha Bharathi, Mr K Ramachandra Raju, Dr Patnam Subbaiah and Mr Mandava Venkateshwara Rao.

Ministers of State: Mr G Nagesh, Mr M. Kistappa, Mr K.E. Prabhakar, Mr P.V. Ratmiah, Mr D Anjaneyulu, Mr C. Krishna Yadav, Mr E. Peddi Reddy, Mr P. Srinivas Reddy, Mr G. Syamasundara Shivaji and Mr D. Venkata Ramana.

Earlier, the 13 new members took oath at the Raj Bhavan lawns in a simple function, attended by Mr Chandrababu Naidu, his Cabinet colleagues, party functionaries and officials.

The Governor administered the oath of secrecy where all ministers, barring Mr Khaleel Pasha, who opted for English, took the oath in Telugu and swore in the name of god.

Contrary to speculations, NTR's son N. Harikrishna and Deputy Speaker M.D. Farooq did not figure in the new list. Mr Harikrishna was given transport portfolio immediately after Mr Naidu took over as Chief Minister in 1995 but had to resign as he could not be elected to the assembly in the stipulated six months' time.

He was later elected from Hindupur, the constituency represented by his father NTR.

K. Prathibha Bharathi and Mr Mohan Reddy are the two new ministers who initially sailed with NTR and later defected to the Chandrababu Naidu group following the split in 1995.