Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Friday he will appoint five deputy chief ministers in his cabinet, which will be sworn-in on Saturday, in a first of its kind decision in the country.
YSR Congress president Jagan Reddy said he would form the full-fledged cabinet with 25 ministers on Saturday. He made the announcement during a meeting of YSRC legislature party meeting at his residence and party headquarters in Tadepalli in Amravati.
“Five of them will be designated as deputy chief ministers, each of whom will represent, SC (Scheduled Castes), ST (Scheduled Tribes), OBC (Other Backward Classes), minority and Kapu community,” Jagan Reddy said.
The chief minister also announced that 50% of the cabinet berths would be filled up with legislators from SC, ST, OBC and minority communities to ensure social justice to the deprived communities.
He, however, did not disclose the names of the lawmakers to be inducted into his cabinet.
“Those who are selected for the cabinet will be intimated individually by party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy by evening,” he said.
This is the first time a chief minister has appointed five deputy chief ministers in the state cabinet.
During the previous term, Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had appointed two deputy CMs – Nimmakayala Chinna Rajappa and K E Krishna Murthy, who held important ministries of home and revenue respectively.
In Telangana, too, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had two deputies in the cabinet in his previous term. Mohammad Mahmood Ali and Kadiyam Srihari also held home and higher education portfolios.
Jagan also said 90% of the ministers who would be taking oath on Saturday would be changed after two and a half years and replaced by a fresh bunch of ministers after that.
“I am going to reshuffle the cabinet after two and a half years and 90% of the present ministers will have to quit paving way for another set of ministers,” he said.
“So, those who get disappointed by not getting a berth in the cabinet will get a chance to become the ministers after two and a half years. By doing so, I want to ensure that all the deserving MLAs will get a chance,” he added.