Yerran son Ram Mohan & Guntur doctor-MP are Naidu men in Govt

While Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu (36), a three-time MP from Srikakulam, was sworn in as a Cabinet minister, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (48), who has made his debut as a Parliamentarian, was inducted as a Minister of State.

From left: Three-time MP from Srikakula, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Guntur MP Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani. (Express Photos)

Two members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – NDA’s second largest constituent after the BJP – were sworn in as ministers in the new Union government Sunday evening.

While Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu (36), a three-time MP from Srikakulam, was sworn in as a Cabinet minister, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (48), who has made his debut as a Parliamentarian, was inducted as a Minister of State.

Ram Mohan, one of the youngest MPs from Andhra Pradesh, won for the third consecutive time from Srikakulam, defeating Tilak Perada of the YSR Congress Party by a margin of 3.2 lakh votes. He is TDP’s national general secretary and has been its floor leader in the Lok Sabha.

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His father, the late K Yerran Naidu, a senior party leader and former MLA and MP, was a Union minister in the United Front government between 1996 and 1998. His uncle K Atchennaidu is the MLA from Tekkali and the TDP state unit president.

After attending Delhi Public School, RK Puram, Ram Mohan got an electrical engineering degree from Purdue University in Indiana, US, and then an MBA from Long Island.

He was working in Singapore when, on November 2, 2012, his father died in a road accident. This brought Ram Mohan into the realm of politics, and at 26, he contested the Srikakulam Lok Sabha seat in 2014. His victory made him the second-youngest MP in the 16th Lok Sabha. Like his father, he is considered one of the closest loyalists of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu.

As an MP, he has been a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing, as well as Committees for Railways and Home Affairs, Consultative Committee on Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes and the Official Language Department.

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His decision to take paternity leave during the 2021 Budget Sessions for his wife’s pregnancy had sparked a discussion on gender roles. He is also one of the first MPs to advocate menstrual health education and sex education in Parliament, and has actively campaigned for the removal of GST on sanitary pads.

The second TDP leader sworn in as Union minister, Dr Chandra Sekhar, comes from a family that has worked for the TDP for decades. He contested for the first time and won against YSRCP’s Kilari Venkata Rosaiah by a margin of 3.4 lakhs votes. The 48-year-old doctor hails from Burripalem village of Tenali.

He was one of the richest candidates for the Lok Sabha, with his family owning assets worth over Rs 5,785 crore.

After an MBBS from Dr NTR University of Health Sciences in 1999, Shekar went on to do an MD in Internal Medicine from Geisinger Medical Centre, Pennsylvania, US, in 2005.

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Amaravati, the capital city which Chandrababu Naidu wants to develop, falls under Shekar’s Guntur Lok Sabha constituency.