Jagan to be sworn in on May 30

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, May 24

The YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy will be sworn in as the second chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation on May 30 at Vijawada.

 As celebrations over YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) victory spilled over into the second day, Jagan invited all the elected MLAs and MPs to meet him at 10:30 on Friday morning.

 Party sources said that he will chair the meeting of the Party’s parliamentary board at 11:30 am where he will be formally elected as the leader of the House, paving the way for his swearing in as chief minister. The YSRCP has emerged as the largest party in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly with 151 members in a House of 175. Barring one seat to the Janasena Party led by Pawan Kalyan, the remaining 23 seats are with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu submitted his resignation to Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L. Narasimhan after his party’s rout. Accepting the resignation, the Governor has asked Naidu to continue as caretaker chief minister until the next chief minister is sworn in.

It remains to be seen how many MLAs—many of who are former TDP MLAS who switched to the YSR Congress after they were denied tickets—make it to the 18-member cabinet.

There is also talk of a senior leader being elected as deputy chief minister, although the large mandate for the party has ensure there is no need for such measures, which are often seen as appeasement tactics.

Four of Jagan’s most loyal supporters from the 16 who were remained with him when he broke ranks from the Congress to establish the YRC Congress in 2011 are believed to be in the running for the cabinet, although there is no confirmation on this.