Hyderabad, May 26: Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday to get her approval for his list of ministers. Though he was to meet her on Sunday, he could not as she was busy with other affairs of the party. Sources said the Chief Minister secured an appointment with her at 11 a.m tomorrow. As soon as he gets her approval, Reddy will return to Hyderabad by a special flight and the swearing-in ceremony of the ministers would be held at the Raj Bhavan at 6.10 p.m.
Congress sources said the Chief Minister had been given a free hand to pick his team. Going by his success formula, Reddy is likely to leave out some of the ‘non-performers’ in his previous government and induct a good number of MLCs.
The size of the Cabinet may be about 25 to 28. Reddy is also likely to retain all the ministers, who have won the elections, and induct a few new faces. He is said to have taken care to ensure representation to all the districts.
Apart from ministers, who have won the elections, others who are likely to make it to the State Cabinet include Sudarshana Reddy (Nizamabad), Vatti Vasantha Kumar (West Godavari), G Kuthuhalamma (Chittoor district), N Kiran Kumar Reddy (Chittoor), Jayasudha (Secunderabad), Ch Muthyam Reddy (Medak), Ahmadulla (Kadapa), Erasu Pratap Reddy (Kurnool), Jupalli Krishna Rao (Mahaboobnagar), D Nagender (Hyderabad) and S Sridhar Babu (Karimnagar).