HYDERABAD, 1 December — Protests by ministers who were dropped in Monday’s reshuffle in Andhra Pradesh have grown louder, prompting Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to warn them not to publicly air their grievances.

Eight ministers were dropped and 11 new faces inducted into the Council of Ministers in the first major reshuffle since the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) returned to power in the 1999.

Most of the ousted members were junior ministers, who were reportedly shown the door for non-performance, while all but two of the new faces in the government are former ministers.

The legislators making noises against Naidu are those who have been either dropped or not accommodated in the new Cabinet.

MLAs Daddi Veerabhadra Rao and S.V. Subba Reddy were the first to issue a statement criticizing the reshuffle and to blame TDP’s Parliamentary Party leader K. Yerran Naidu for meddling in the exercise.

The move drew a prompt warning from Naidu who told the legislators not to vent their grouse in public. The party also served a show cause notice on Veerabhadra Rao and is contemplating similar action against other MLAs.

On Wednesday, supporters of a dropped minister shouted slogans and created a scene in the presence of Naidu at a function in Hyderabad.

Naidu was inaugurating a flyover in the city when supporters of C. Krishna Yadav shouted slogans to protest the dropping of Yadav from the Cabinet.

The shrill protests forced Naidu to get down from the dais and request Yadav to join the function. Yadav is the local legislator from the Himayatnagar constituency where the function was held.

In addition to these isolated incidents, the disgruntled MLAs have also been holding talks to find a leader to lead their revolt. They are looking to S.V. Subba Reddy, a senior party leader and legislator from Kurnool district, to don the mantle.

Subba Reddy’s daughter Shoba Nagi Reddy, who is also a legislator and secretary of the TDP Legislature Party, is also unhappy over the reshuffle and is contemplating resignation.

According to reports here, legislators from Ranga Reddy district have ganged up against state Home Minister T. Devender Goud, while some MLAs from Medak, Adilabad and Warangal districts in Telangana region are said to be planning to join the dissidents. Government whip E. Dayakar Rao and one of the dropped, E. Peddi Reddy, are also likely to join the group, reports said.