Vizag finds no place in CBN’s 4.0 Cabinet

Visakhapatnam : A majority of senior leaders from North Andhra did not get berth in the newly-formed BJP-TDP-JSP government in Andhra Pradesh.

Even as a section of senior leaders pinned hopes on getting berth, their followers are in for a big disappointment following the release of the list of Ministers announced hours before the swearing-in ceremony of Nara Chandrababu Naidu as the fourth-time Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Of the MLAs-elect in North Andhra, very few have been given ministerial berths, including Kinjarapu Atchannaidu Naidu from Tekkali, Vangalupudi Anitha from Payakaraopeta and Kondapalli Srinivas from Gajapathinagaram.

However, in CBN’s 4.0 government, the selection of Ministers followed a fresh pattern. Unlike the earlier versions wherein a lot of senior leaders bagged Ministerial berths, a cautious effort has gone into giving Cabinet rank to the MLAs-elect this time. As part of the exercise, Naidu gave an opportunity to 17 MLAs to serve as ministers for the first time.

Even as Naidu announced that he would develop Visakhapatnam as the financial capital of Andhra Pradesh, senior leaders from the port city did not find a place in his Cabinet.

In Visakhapatnam, party leaders expected that former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao would be accommodated in the Cabinet. Speculation was rife that P Vishnu Kumar Raju from BJP would also get an opportunity. Also, the alliance cadre expected berth for Gajuwaka MLA-elect Palla Srinivasa Rao, who won with the highest majority in Andhra Pradesh.

Senior TDP leaders, including four-time MLAs Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu from Visakhapatnam East constituency and PVGR Naidu from West constituency too did not get preference in the fresh Cabinet.

However, there is no clarity yet on whether the newly-elected Ministers would get two-and-a-half-year term or continue for five years during the BJP-TDP-JSP government.

In order to accommodate more MLAs in the Cabinet, the YSRCP government followed two-and-a-half-year term for ministers. But, whether the NDA government will follow a similar pattern or not needs to be seen. Before the next general elections, Ministers plays an important role in bringing the government back to power. Keeping this in view, there is a possibility of giving a chance for the senior leaders in the second-half of the alliance government.