The full Andhra Pradesh Council of 24 ministers submitted their resignations on Thursday, paving the way for Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to carry out a mid-term reshuffle as announced earlier. Sources said the names of the new ministers are unlikely to be announced before April 9. 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ After assuming the CM office in June 2019, Reddy had indicated that midway through his term, he would reorganise his Council of Ministers, ostensibly to send out a message that the ministers can't take their positions for granted. Outgoing Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana told The Indian Express that the CM told them that the new ministers had been selected after several rounds of consultations and on the basis of merit. "Who will be retained and who will be dropped is the CM’s decision. The CM’s decision is final and we support him whole-heartedly,’’ he said. The en masse resignations on Thursday came at the end of a three-hour meeting that Reddy held with the ministers. Sources in the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) said the CM sought feedback from constituencies represented by the existing ministers as well as all other constituencies represented by party MLAs. They say that the CM took note of constituencies or regions where the minister was at loggerheads with other MLAs of that region since that would reflect poorly on the party. "The CM has taken into account all the reports, allegations and performance charts of his ministers. These include both reports of good work and allegations of corruption, land-grabbing, illegal sand mining and others,'' a source said. Outgoing Information and PR Minister Perni Venkataramaiah said, "The CM told us that those MLAs who deserve ministerial berths will be accommodated in the new team. The ministers who will not be retained will be given responsibilities in the party to prepare for the next elections. We all agreed with the CM’s proposal and submitted our resignations,’’ he said. Sources said the CM on Thursday submitted to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandran a list of ministers who are being dropped, and may submit the list of new ministers by April 9. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Sri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy called on Andhra Pradesh Governor Sri Biswabhusan Harichandan on a courtesy visit at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.@AndhraPradeshCM @ysjagan pic.twitter.com/FoeSM7a3uA — Governor of Andhra Pradesh (@governorap) April 6, 2022 With no word on who is in or out, there has intense speculation over the last few days. Sources say that since the entire Council of Ministers is based on caste equations, only a few ministers, like Gummanur Jayaram, who represents the Valmiki community, and Chelluboyina Srinivas, who belong to the Setti Balija community, may be retained since these communities lack any other elected member. Sources also said the new team will have the same structure as the earlier one with five deputy CMs - one each representing the SC, ST, BC, Kapu, and Muslim communities - and three women ministers. In 2019, the CM had appointed Mekathoti Sucharita as the first Dalit woman Home Minister. Earlier on Thursday, as the ministers waited nervously for the CM to arrive for the Cabinet meeting in the afternoon, at his office at Tadepalli, Reddy attended a function to felicitate village and ward volunteers whom the government had appointed to ensure delivery of welfare schemes. Praising the village and ward volunteers, the CM said they were the "pillars of the welfare delivery system" and a role model in governance for other states.
