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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday reshuffled his Cabinet, dropping eight ministers and inducting 11 new ministers.
Governor Dr C Rangarajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to six Cabinet-rank ministers and five ministers of state at an impressive ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Monday afternoon.
The strength of the reconstituted Cabinet rises to 39, with 29 Cabinet rank ministers and 10 ministers of state.
Among the 11 new ministers, as many as seven of them had stints in Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet earlier.
They were dropped in the earlier reshuffles and brought back now.
Two ministers had earlier served in the Cabinet of the first Telugu Desam Chief Minister N T Rama Rao.
Technically, only two of the inductees are first-timers.
Eight ministers who were dropped are Ms S Aruna, Ms J Lakshmi Padmavathi, Ms K Pushpaleela, Dr N Siva Prasad (Cabinet rank) and C Krishna Yadav, E Peddi Reddy, A Prahbakar Reddy and A Rajendra Prasad (ministers of state).
The ministers who were sworn in are S Chandramohan Reddy, Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, J R Pushparaj, P Ramasubba Reddy, Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, T Srinivas Yadav (Cabinet-rank) and D Anjaneyulu, M Damodar Reddy, Suddala Devaiah, P Narayanaswamy and P Ramulu.
Later, speaking to newsmen, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that he had undertaken the Cabinet reshuffle after a gap of two years. He said that for assorted reasons, some ministers were dropped. The new ministers were inducted to make the Cabinet a functional and effective team.
He said that he had announced the decision to reconstitute the Cabinet four days in advance and consulted cross-section of opinion before finalising the list.
"Cabinet expansion is a continuous process. Whenever there is a need, reshuffle will be done," he said and pointed out that the idea behind the exercise was to build up a good team for implementation of government policies and programmes in an effective manner.
"We are creating a dynamic situation," he added.
He said the allocation of portfolios was being done to bring about total coordination for effective execution of the government's schemes.
Asked if the reconstituted Cabinet is a balanced one, he quipped, 'it is for you to judge'. He explained that several factors were taken into consideration, including representation for different districts as well as the weaker sections and other sections.
Asked why he had dropped three women ministers and not inducted a single one, Naidu said the Cabinet still had three women ministers.
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