HYDERABAD, 12 September — The chief minister of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, yesterday inducted three new faces in his Cabinet and elevated a junior minister to the Cabinet rank.
Gov. C. Rangarajan administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the new ministers at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan, his residence. The three new Cabinet ministers are C. Muthyam Reddy, Nerella Anjaneyulu and P. Babu Mohan.
Reddy is a veteran of Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party and Anjaneyulu is a two-term legislator. Mohan is a well-known Telugu film actor-turned-politician.
Minister of State for Technical Education Muddasani Damodar Reddy was elevated to the Cabinet. All four ministers are from the backward Telangana region. Naidu now has 39 ministers, 31 of whom are of Cabinet rank. Eight are ministers of state.
Anjaneyulu was touring Southeast Asia with other legislators when he was asked to rush home. An aide to the chief minister said yesterday’s expansion was called to fill the vacancies caused by the resignation of Panchayat Raj Minister P. Srinivas Reddy and Labor Minister Suddhala Devaiah and the death in April of Higher Education Minister K. Ramachandra Rao.
Srinivas Reddy resigned last week after a scam broke out over the purchase of stationery by his department and implicated his son-in-law. Anjanayalu hails from Srinivas Reddy’s native Nizamabad district. Mohan, who hails from the coastal region, is a Dalit.
Naidu, however, refused to sack four ministers who the opposition says are involved in a scandal over the illegal diversion of government rice.
