Within days of accepting the resignation of two ministers in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expanded his cabinet on Wednesday. In the reshuffle, Ramachandrapuram MLA Ch Venugopala Krishna and Palasa MLA Dr Sidiri Appala Raju were inducted into the YSRCP chief's cabinet. 

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, who was holding the portfolio of Revenue, Stamps & Registration and Animal Husbandries Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana had resigned as they were elected to the Rajya Sabha along with industrialists Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy and Parimal Nathwani on a YSRCP ticket.

Sources said that since the two ministers who resigned were from Backward Communities (BCs), the party decided to replace them with two other BCs to maintain the representation of communities in the cabinet. 

The cabinet expansion is the first ever one by Jagan, who was overwhelmingly voted to power in May last year. Given the pandemic, only a few dignitaries along with family members of the new ministers were present at the ceremony.

Governor Biswabhusan Harichnadan convened the oath taking ceremony in the presence of CM YS Jagan on Wednesday at around 1.30 pm. 

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendra, Deputy CM Pushpa Sreevani, Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang and few other bureaucrats also attended the event.

Portfolios earlier held by Pilli and Mopidevi were currently being overseen by Jagan Mohan Reddy himself, and may now either be allocated to the new ministers or the Chief Minister may go for a reshuffle of portfolios. 

While Venugopal was earlier in the Congress and rose to the position starting as a district local body member in 2009, Dr Sidiri hails from a fishermen community and entered into politics by joining the YSRCP in 2017, according to reports.