TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet is a mix of 17 freshers and eight experienced ministers, including him.
Out of 24 ministers who took oath of office on Wednesday in Andhra Pradesh, 17 are first-timers, three are women, eight are from backward class (BC) communities, one a Muslim, two from Scheduled Castes (SC) and one from Scheduled Tribes among others.
They took oath in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and a bevy of other union ministers and distinguished guests.
Besides Naidu, 20 ministers belong to the TDP, three from Janasena and one from BJP took oath.
The new ministers are of ages between 41 and 74.
First-time minister Pawan Kalyan founded Janasena in 2014 to emerge victorious 10 years later in 2024 through the NDA alliance of BJP, TDP and Janasena.
The father of four children played a key role in stitching together the alliance.
Stanford MBA graduate and former World Bank official Nara Lokesh, the 41-year-old son of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was a former minister who won the Mangalagiri seat with a massive margin of 91,413 votes.
Senior TDP leader K Atchannaidu is the brother of later union minister K Yerran Naidu. He is also the uncle of newly-appointed Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu.
K Ravindra, the 51-year-old minister from Machilipatnam Assembly constituency is a BA and law graduate.
Senior Janasena leader N Manohar is the son of former united Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Bhaskar and a first-time minister.
Education tycoon P Narayana, who runs the Narayana Group of educational institutions, worked as the municipal minister in the earlier TDP government between 2014 and 2019.
TDP’s Payakaraopeta MLA Anita Vangalapudi is a first-time minister. The 45-year-old leader formerly worked as a teacher.
N Ramanaidu from Palakollu in West Godavari district holds a doctorate and worked as a lecturer at Y N College in Narasapuram for some time. The three-time MLA is a first-time minister now.
P Keshav from Uravakonda constituency in Anantapur district is a five-time MLA who entered politics 30 years ago to become a minister for the first time.
G Sandhya Rani, 51-year-old TDP MLA from Salur in Parvatipuram Manyam district is a BSc graduate and comes from a political family. She is a first-time minister.
A Satya Prasad from Repalle in Bapatla district joined TDP in 2009. After winning from this constituency in 2014, 2019 and now in 2024, he emerged as a first-time minister.
D Sri Bala Veeranjaneyaswamy from Kondapi constituency in Prakasam district is a medical doctor and a first-time minister. He won from Kondapi for the third time in a stretch.
Engineering graduate Gottipati Ravi Kumar, 48, is a granite businessman. The first-time minister’s maiden electoral victory came as a Congress leader in 2004.
First-time minister K Durgesh from Nidadavolu constituency debuted in politics through Congress. He had also worked as East Godavari district Congress president.
B C Janardhan Reddy won from Banaganapalli constituency in Nandyala district. The first-time minister and 55-year-old TDP leader first won as an MLA in 2014.
T G Bharat is famous father T G Venkatesh’s political successor. The 48-year-old first-time minister from Kurnool studied business in the UK.
S Savita from TDP defeated YSRCP minister K V Usha Shricharan to capture Penukonda constituency and emerge as a first-time minister.
Ramachandrapuram TDP MLA V Subash is a BSc and law graduate. The first-time minister’s family members are politically active in Amalapuram.
TDP’s 42-year-old Gajapatinagaram MLA K Srinivas from Vizianagaram district is a first-time minister. He is a postgraduate in computer science.
The lone Muslim minister in the cabinet is NMD Farook, who started his political journey as a municipal councillor in 1981.
Nellore MLA A Ramnarayan Reddy is a senior politician who had earlier worked in the Congress. He quit YSRCP to bag Atmakuru constituency for the TDP.
M Ram Prasad Reddy defeated YSRCP’s G Srikanth Reddy by a margin of 2,495 votes in Rayachoti constituency in Annamayya district. He joined TDP in December 2023 and has managed to become a first-time minister.
TDP’s Nuziveedu MLA K Parthasaradhi joined the ruling party just a few months before the polls. The 59-year-old MLA’s father was a two-time MP from Machilipatnam.
Satya Kumar Yadav is an NDA alliance leader from the BJP, who won from the Dharmavaram constituency. The 53-year-old leader is a first-time minister.
Most of these ministers paid a courtesy call to Naidu at his home in Undavalli, and the chief minister deliberated with them.
The NDA, comprising TDP, BJP and Janasena, won a landslide victory in the recently concluded simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh with a huge majority of 164 assembly seats out of the total 175, and 21 out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
