Andhra CM inducts brother of ally Pawan Kalyan into cabinet
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has announced the induction of Konidela Nagababu, elder brother of deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, into the state cabinet
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has announced the induction of Konidela Nagababu, Jana Sena Party (JSP) general secretary and elder brother of deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, into the state cabinet.

On Monday night, Naidu also announced the names of former MP Beeda Mastan Rao and industrialist Sana Satish Babu for the two out of three Rajya Sabha seats, by-elections for which are scheduled on December 20. The third vacant Rajya Sabha seat was allotted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which announced the candidacy of former MP Ryaga Krishnaiah.
Nagababu, who was originally tipped to be nominated to Rajya Sabha, opted out of the race with the TDP allotting the seat to the BJP.
As part of the understanding with the JSP, Naidu announced that Nagababu will be inducted into the state cabinet soon. Andhra Pradesh has a provision for 25 ministerial positions based on its assembly seats. However, the current cabinet has 24 members.
“After he becomes the cabinet minister, Nagababu has to be either elected to the state assembly from any vacancy that might arise or nominated to the state legislative council within six months,” a TDP leader familiar with the development said.
At present, only Pawan Kalyan, Kandula Durgesh, and Nadendla Manohar represent Jana Sena Party in the state cabinet. As part of the coalition agreement, Jana Sena is entitled to four ministerial positions, and BJP is allotted one. The remaining vacancy is set to be filled by a Jana Sena member.
With regard to Rajya Sabha nominations, Beeda Mastan Rao, who resigned from his Rajya Sabha membership following his defection from the YSRCP to the TDP, has been retained for the same seat.
On the other hand, Sana Satish has been fielded to fill Mopidevi Venkataramana’s vacancy. All three coalition candidates are expected to file their nominations on Tuesday, and their election is likely to be unanimous, because the opposition YSRCP does not have enough number of MLAs to field the candidate.
