Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has tailored his cabinet and it has become the first cabinet overhaul since he came to power in 2019. In what has been described as a major restructuring of the ministry ahead of the assembly polls, Andhra Pradesh has witnessed fourteen new faces in the cabinet accompanied by eleven existing ministers.

Among the new faces is veteran actress Roja, who has been representing the Nagari assembly constituency in the Andhra Pradesh assembly. In 2019, after coming to power, Jagan Mohan Reddy had made it clear that the cabinet would be inducted with a fresh team of ministers midway through the five-year term. Nearly three years later, he had executed his plan with a good balance on both sides and in the first cabinet reshuffle, he had awarded the ministerial berth for the lawmakers mostly from the SC, ST, and minority communities. 

While the induction of ministers who belong to the backward class has drawn a huge commendation, it has been reported that Jagan Mohan Reddy's drive of inducting the members from the backward classes into his cabinet has come with an eye on the 2024 polls. Out of 25 ministers in total, 17 belong to the backward communities while his previous cabinet had 14. Along with that, the number of women ministers has also gone up from three to four this time. 

The political observers say that the rejig, with the composition of more women and with a good representation of the backward communities, would help Jagan Mohan Reddy to take on his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu in the 2024 assembly polls. Given the fact that Naidu may form an alliance with actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, Jagan Mohan Reddy aims to face the voters with his social engineering factor amid the possible setback that he might endure from the prominent voter bases and dissidents. 

According to reports, Reddy has given huge importance to BCs and SCs in the coastal districts and it is the first time that these backward communities have got a major representation in the state's cabinet. Looking at numbers, his previous cabinet had 56% of ministers from SC, ST and OBC and now, it has gone up to 68%. Taking everyone into surprise, Jagan Mohan Reddy had given no representation to Kamma and Raju communities in his new cabinet. These communities have decorated every cabinet of Congress and Telugu Desam governments. 

The rejig was made on Sunday- April 10 and after completing the overhaul, Jagan Mohan Reddy had sent the list of new ministers to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan. On Monday, the Governor had administered the oath of office to the old and new ministers. Veteran actress Roja was among the 14 new ministers and she has joined the club of first-time women ministers V Rajini and Usha Sricharan. The cadres of the ruling YSRCP had lauded the new ministers as they took the oath. The new ministers took the office four days after all the ministers of the previous cabinet had submitted their resignations. 

After a swirl of speculations over actress Roja's portfolio, it has now been made official that she has been appointed as the new Tourism Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, Jagan Mohan Reddy had faced dissents from the people who were dropped out from the cabinet and from the ministerial hopefuls. Sucharitha, who was the home minister in the previous cabinet, was dropped out from the new cabinet due to which it is said that she has decided to resign her assembly seat in protest.

Energy Minister B Srinivas Reddy, who is a relative of Jagan Mohan Reddy, also had expressed dissatisfaction over the new cabinet and was unhappy after learning that the Chief Minister had kept the ministerial post of his rival A Suresh, who is the Education Minister. Several YSRCP cadres had also protested across Andhra Pradesh and the reports say that those who were dropped out from the cabinet would be given responsibilities in the party so that they strengthen the party ahead of the 2024 assembly polls.