Axed ministers in Andhra Pradesh threaten to quit Assembly

Visakhapatnam: After initially announcing that the entire Cabinet would be changed barring only a few, Jagan’s decision to retain nearly half the team–11 out of 25 –as ministers appears to have stirred a hornet’s nest. At least two former ministers–Mekathoti Sucharita who held the Home portfolio and Balineni Srinivasulu Reddy who handled Environment and Forests […]

Visakhapatnam: After initially announcing that the entire Cabinet would be changed barring only a few, Jagan’s decision to retain nearly half the team–11 out of 25 –as ministers appears to have stirred a hornet’s nest.

At least two former ministers–Mekathoti Sucharita who held the Home portfolio and Balineni Srinivasulu Reddy who handled Environment and Forests have threatened to quit the Assembly. While Sucharita announced it on Sunday night at a meeting of party workers in Prathipadu in Guntur district, followed by her daughter’s media conference saying that her mother was quitting the Assembly and not the party, Balineni’s followers burnt tyres on the road in Ongole protesting against dropping their leader from the Cabinet.

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Adviser to the government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy met a sulking Balineni twice on Sunday in a bid to pacify him but in vain while Sucharita’s followers were sore that Sajjala met only Balineni but ignored her, and even alleged discriminaton against SCs although Jagan gave adequate representation to SC, ST, and BCs in the ministry. Their argument was that when as many as 11 could be retained, why not them?

In Vaddadi village of Anakapalle district, YSR Congress Party workers and followers of local Chodavaram MLA Karanam Dharmasri staged a sit-in on the main road disrupting the traffic demanding Cabinet berth to their leader.

Another aspirant Macharla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy was so upset that he was not given the chance to serve as minister, did not respond even when CMO secretary Dhanunjaya Reddy tried to contact him on phone. His followers organised rasta roko in Macherla, Durgi, Veldurthi, Karampudi and Renthintala mandals in protest.

In Nellore, MLA Kotamreddi Sridhar Reddy even broke down into tears. “I have been working for the party from the beginning. Although I am pained that I am not chosen for the ministry, I will not leave the party,” he stated.

Like Sridhar Reddy, Sucharita and Balineni also declared they were not quitting the party which shows that they are only trying to bring pressure on the party high command to choose them for plum posts which Jagan had already promised his colleagues before dissolving the Cabinet.

There is also criticism that Jagan failed to give proper respresentation to regions. The biggest district Prakasam and the smallest one Visakhapatnam did not find place in the ministry which raised many eyebrows. He appeared to have gone merely by social equations to provide room for 70 per cent from backward classes in the Cabinet but neglected the regional interests, observers point out.

However, YSRCP circles dismiss the dissent as not serious but merely a storm in the tea cup which will settle down soon.

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