Of the 22 new inductions and elevations in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's latest Cabinet reshuffle, nine names are from the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. The Southern skew of the Council of Ministers underlines the inevitabilities of Congress hopes as 2014 draws closer.
Andhra Pradesh
K Chiranjeevi, MoS for Tourism (Independent Charge)
As far as induction of K Chiranjeevi into the Union Cabinet is concerned, it is repaying gratitude for merging his Praja Rajyam Party into the Congress in February 2011 and going to the rescue of the state government which was threatened by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. He was promised a berth in the Union Cabinet and appropriate positions for his supporters. Accordingly, he was taken into Rajya Sabha to pave way for his entry into the Cabinet. Now 57-year-old Chiranjeevi, who always finds at home in the company of his film friends, will be for a change interacting with industrialists in his new capacity as Union tourism minister at World Travel Mart beginning in London on November 4. Chiranjeevi, son of a police constable, always describes the tough road he had travelled. “If I grew from Ganji to Benz (from the status of taking gruel for lunch to driving Benz car) it is because of my hard work,” he often says.
MM Pallam Raju, Union HRD Minister
Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, a Kapu leader, gets cabinet rank and becomes Union Minister for HRD all because of the fight within another community Kammas over the proposal to elevate NTR’s daughter D Purandeswari to cabinet rank. Though Pallam Raju is not a mass leader, he has been managing to win the election to Lok Sabha from Kakinada and the present term is his third. He belongs to Kapu community, which is numerically strong in East Godavari and West Godavari districts. The Kapu parliamentarian always keeps himself away from controversies. The only complaint against him is that he is always in
Delhi and rarely visits his constituency. Now that he is HRD Minister, chances of his visit to Kakinada are even more remote. Pallam Raju was a student of Hyderabad Public School, Hyderabad, and did his BE from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam in electronics and communication in 1983. He did his MBA from Temple University of Philadelphia, and worked in Philadelphia and Boston in the US and in Oslo, Norway, in the field of computer and information technology.
K Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, MoS for Railways
Though the scion of late Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, 61-year-old Surya Prakash Reddy does not operate outside the confines of his district, Kurnool. He keeps a low profile but what helped him in his elevation is the fact that he belongs to Reddy community, the most influential in Rayalaseema region and is crucial now ahead of 2014 general elections since Jagan Mohan Reddy is rallying Reddys behind him. Another factor that helped him was that he was silent on the demand from Seemandhra region to keep the state united and thus spared the party high command of embarrassment. Surya Prakash is a three-time MP from Kurnool.
P Balram Naik, Mos for Social Justice and Empowerment
For Porika Balram Naik, a tribal, it is a journey from being a telephone operator in the State Legislative Assembly to Union Council of Ministers. For Naik, 48, who is the only Banjara MP in Lok Sabha, the position came at a time when he never expected it even in his wildest dreams. It was because he was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 2009 from Mahabubabad. At a time when Telangana movement is fierce in the region, particularly in his Warangal district, Naik, was not deterred. He always used to say that he had faith in Sonia Gandhi that she would deliver Telangana and there was no point in pestering the party high command every day. This stance paid off and Sonia Gandhi remembered him at the time of distribution of goodies to the MPs. He was so excited about finding himself as one among the ministers, he even forgot to sign to the effect that he had taken the oath.
Dr. Kruparani Killi, Mos for Communications and IT
Surprise of surprises was Srikakulam MP Kruparani Killi, 47, finding her way into the Union Cabinet. In the party, Kruparani, a medical doctor, is never an influence either in her Srikakulam or north Andhra districts. People took notice of her when she created a flutter during Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s visit to her constituency two months ago. She created a scene and held up the CM’s convoy in protest against the police not allowing her car to reach the place where the CM was supposed to go. The police had to allow her car in the CM’s convoy. Kruparani is a first-timer sitting in Lok Sabha, having vanquished TDP giant K Yerran Naidu in 2009 general elections. Her community—Kalinga—had helped her make it to the ministry since Kalingas are BCs and there was no representation from the community in the Union Cabinet from Andhra Pradesh.
Sathyanarayana Sarvey, MoS for Road Transport and Highways
Malkajgiri MP Sarvey had been waiting for a ministerial berth for a very long time. He tried to endear himself to Sonia Gandhi at the height of Telangana movement by not associating with the other MPs from the region who were calling the party bosses’ names. On the contrary, he supported Sonia and defended the “logic” behind the delay in taking a decision on Telangana. The 58-year-old two-time MP was sure that he would become a minister during the last reshuffle but it didn’t happen. He always felt that if he was rewarded with a position at the Centre, the Congress would help itself since it would help in polarisation of Madigas, his community, in favour of Congress at a time when the Malas were veering towards Jagan Mohan Reddy. After he was sworn in, he walked straight to Sonia Gandhi and attempted to touch her feet. Sarvey, who has done his LLB from Hyderabad, is hot tempered.
Kerala
Shashi Tharoor, MoS for HRD
In his maiden stint as a Union minister that lasted all of 11 months, the 56-year-old author and diplomat par excellence courted controversies, one after the other. Though he had many best sellers to his credit, his tweets surpassed their popularity of books. The ‘cattle class’ description of economy class air travel was but only one of his many gaffes. An ardent cricket fan, Tharoor evidently made a wrong move when he batted for Kochi Tuskers, the erstwhile IPL franchisee. The controversy over the sweat equity of Sunanda Pushkar, later his wife, in the team forced the newcomer into politics to resign from the UPA II ministry. Though seen as floundering for a grip in the party, the first-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram could bounce back into the Human Resource Development ministry, 30 months after his first innings ended in an inglorious exit.
Suresh Kodikunnil, MoS for Labour
Kodikunnil, in a sense, was stepping into the shoes of former President K R Narayanan whom he follows as Union minister. The 50-year-old, whose maiden tenure as an MP started in 1989, had the virtue of sharing one of the two reserved constituencies in the state with the former president when the latter was serving his second term. Not too long ago, the fate of this veteran with 17 years of parliamentary experience hung in balance, when Kerala High Court set aside his election from the Mavelikkara constituency on account of his conflicting statements on caste. However, Supreme Court upheld his election in May 2011. It took him only 18 months, with the strong backing of mentor and Defence Minister A K Antony, to rub shoulders with many luminaries in the Union Cabinet. Son of Kunjan and Thankamma, two daily wage labourers, Suresh climbed the party ranks by starting out as a member of the Kerala Students Union.
Karnataka
K Rahman Khan, Minister of Minority Affairs
K Rahman Khan has served as the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha for eight years. He was a junior minister in the UPA I for a brief period. Khan is known to have a good rapport with members across the political spectrum. He kept his cool when Opposition members created ruckus in the Upper House. The son of a government school teacher, Khan is the first chartered accountant from the Muslim community in Karnataka. He was introduced to politics by none other than former Railways Minister C K Jaffer Sharief. A family man, Khan is in constant touch with all his five brothers and three sisters who are into various professions. All members of the family meet during Ramzan and Bakrid every year. Khan always likes to meet his school-day friends who live at his native place K R Pet in Mandya district and spends time with them. Khan is a man who is extremely organised and a voracious reader. He is a fitness freak and never forgets his daily walk. Though he loves non-vegetarian food very much, he prefers vegetarian most of the days in a week. Khan loves to watch movies based on love stories and those with social messages.