Vijayawada, June 12 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu’s 24-member ministerial team, which was sworn-in along with him on Wednesday, has 17 fresh faces as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief has given preference to young leaders.
The remaining seven had served as ministers either in Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet in bifurcated Andhra Pradesh or in the united one.
All the three ministers from Jana Sena and the lone minister from BJP have been inducted in the Cabinet for the first time.
Majority of the 20 ministers from TDP are young leaders with some of them elected to the Assembly for the first time.
In all, nine of the ministers in Naidu’s Cabinet were elected to the Assembly for the first time.
The most prominent fresh face is Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan, who is set to be appointed Deputy Chief Minister.
The 56-year-old has been elected to the Assembly for the first time.
Pawan Kalyan, who studied till Intermediate, made his electoral debut from Pithapuram constituency in Kakinada District.
The younger brother of megastar Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan is among three ministers from Jana Sena in Naidu’s government.
Jana Sena won all 21 Assembly seats it contested.
Interestingly, Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, who was part of the earlier TDP Cabinet, is also a first-time MLA.
Lokesh, K. Atchannaidu, Kollu Ravindra, P. Narayana and N Md Farooq were all ministers in the TDP government between 2014 and 2019.
Lokesh, who is TDP General Secretary, is also a first time MLA. In 2017, he was elected to the Legislative Council and served as minister for information technology and rural development in the Cabinet headed by his father.
Satya Kumar Yadav is the only BJP representative in the Cabinet. He is a first-time MLA, having been elected from Dharmavaram constituency in Sri Sathya Sai District in the recent elections. He has done MA in political science. He served as Personal Secretary of former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. In 2018, he was appointed National Secretary of the BJP. He is currently co-incharge of BJP in Uttar Pradesh and incharge for Andaman and Nicobar.
TG Bharath, who has done MBA in UK, is a first-time MLA. The 48-year-old was elected from Kurnool constituency. He is the son of former minister TG Venkatesh.
S Savitha was elected to the Assembly for the first time in recent elections from Penukonda in Sri Sathya Sai District. She is the daughter of former MP and minister S. Ramachandra Reddy.
Mandipalli Ram Prasad Reddy is one of the youngest ministers in the new Cabinet. The 43-year-old is a first-time MLA from Rayachoti in Annamayya District. He had quit YSRCP to join TDP in December 2023.
