Several MLAs from Nellore eye Cabinet berths

Nellore: YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy will face a tough time in finding a candidate from Nellore district for providing Ministerial berth in his State Cabinet.

There are several aspirants for Ministerial berth and the victorious candidates also won the election securing good majority.

Out of 10 Assembly segments in the district, 7 members are from the dominating Reddy community and 2 are from SCs and only one from the BC community.

Since seven candidates are from the single caste to which the party chief also belongs, the selection would be a difficult task, analysts say.

There are two to three factors which would enable a candidate to secure berth in the State Cabinet. They are caste, seniority and intimacy with the party chief.

Since Nellore is dominated by Reddy population there should be one person to represent in the Cabinet.

Seniors are having good chances since their experience is crucial for the first YSRCP government in the State, analysts say.

Though former Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy joined the party recently, experts say his seniority is valuable to secure a balance among both youngsters and seniors and he had earlier served as a Minister and managed important portfolios.

Rumours are doing rounds that he would be preferred for Speaker position considering his age and experience.

Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy is also another senior leader from the district who also served as Minister earlier and he is in the race for berth in the State cabinet.

But, a section of people argue that there are possibilities for Sarvepalli MLA Kakani Govardhan Reddy and Nellore City MLA Dr P Anil Kumar Yadav who defeated Ministers Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Dr P Narayana respectively and that they should be rewarded with some ministry as part of encouragement.

Dr Anil is blue-eyed leader in the party where party chief Jagan treats him specially and is having chances for place in the Cabinet.

Another important leader is Atmakur MLA Mekapati Goutham Reddy who is close to Jagan because of age and personal relations and there are chances for him to be inducted.

But, analysts say when the Chief Minister himself is close to a legislator, he may not be in the Cabinet since things can be done without much effort.

Further, MLA of Sullurpet SC constituency K Sanjeevaiah bagged a majority of over 61,000 votes and community people expect some kind of encouragement from the party.

Dr V Varaprasad also comes under same category as he has been elected from the Gudur SC constituency with a good majority.

Sources said Nellore Rural MLA K Sridhar Reddy and Udayagiri MLA M Chandrasekhar Reddy are not in the race.

Though Kavali MLA R Pratap Kumar Reddy is having family relationship and intimacy with the party chief, he may not be preferred since there are seniors from the same community in the district.

District is a strong bastion for the party and there should be some encouragement to the leaders with appropriate recognition.

The YSRCP has won 7 Assembly segments and two LS seats in 2014. Now, the party triumphed in all the constituencies in the district.