The new Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, comprising of 25 ministers, was sworn in on Monday, 10 April, at Amaravati.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday had reconstituted his Cabinet which had been dissolved earlier in the week. While 11 ministers were retained from his previous Cabinet, 14 new faces were added.
Background
The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led State Cabinet had been dissolved on Thursday ahead of the expected reshuffle.
In the freshly revamped cabinet, of the 25 cabinet members, 17 are from ST ,SC, BC and Minority communities, a press release from the Chief Minister's Office said on Sunday.
According to the release, in 2019, when CM Jagan formed his cabinet, of 25 ministers, 56 percent of them were from the SC, ST, OBC and minority sections of the society.
This time around, their representation in the cabinet has been increased to 68 percent. In the previous cabinet, there were 5 SCs, 1 ST, 7 OBCs, 1 minority, and 11 MLAs from Other castes. This time, the representation has been increased by 17 – 11 BCs, 5 SCs, 1 ST and 8 OBCs.
The women representation in the cabinet has been increased to four, compared to previous cabinet of three, with the aim of empowering women MLAs and also ensuring equal representation, the CMO said.
After constituting his first Cabinet in June 2019, Reddy had made it clear that after the half-term there would be a new Cabinet. The outgoing ministers will be entrusted with the task of working for the party to bring it back to power, he had added. The process, however, has been delayed by few months.
The reshuffle is being viewed as Reddy's way to strengthen the party's organisational structure two years before the state goes to the polls.
The party had won a thumping majority in the 2019 Assembly election, winning 151 seats in the 175-member House.
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