VIJAYAWADA: Following the Congress party’s victory in the State, the debate has now begun over ministerial berths in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s new government which is likely to be formed in a couple of days.
With two ministers, government whip and other senior MLAs facing unexpected setback in the election from the district, the second and first-time MLAs have kept their fingers crossed over a possible place in the Cabinet.
Though the Congress has received handsome victory across the State in the justconcluded elections, Krishna district could not fetch a majority of seats Congress party, against their expectations.
As a result, the tally of Assembly seats fell from 14 seats in 2004 to just six this time around.
Moreover, with both the ministers from the district - Mandali Buddha Prasad and Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao - losing, the way seems to be clear for new candidates.
Among the six Congress MLAs elected from the district, Machilipatnam MLA Perni Nani and Penamaluru MLA KP Sarathi are the only ones to have been elected in the past too. Meanwhile, the new members are - Malladi Vishnu from Vijayawada Central, Dirisam Padma Jyothi from Tiruvuru, Jogi Ramesh from Pedana and D Y Dasu from Pamarru, and all the four have equal chances of getting a Cabinet berth.
Generally, every district is represented by two ministers in any government. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s previous government also had given two ministerial berths to MLAs from the district.
Despite losing senior leaders, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy may continue the tradition and give a chance for two members this time around.
Meanwhile, minister’s post for Perni Nani seems to be a certainity as he retained the Machilipatnam constituency, in spite of severe pressure from PRP as well as TDP. Besdies, he is probably the only senior leader from the Congress to be elected from the district in this elections.
Among debutant winners, Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu also has chances of getting a berth in the Cabinet on account of his closeness to the Chief Minister.