Hyderabad:
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will be carrying a list of probable candidates for possible induction into the state cabinet to New Delhi on Wednesday to seek the Congress high command's nod for the revamp exercise which is likely this weekend.
The number of vacancies in the state Council of Ministers increased to seven following the resignation of two ministers and dismissal of another in recent days.
Apart from approval for the cabinet re-organisation, the Chief Minister will also get the names of probable candidates screened to finalise the list.
"If everything goes well, the revamp may happen by this weekend as the budget session of the state legislature is due to resume on June 10. Otherwise, it will have to be delayed till the third week," a senior minister close to the Chief Minister said.
During his interaction with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary, in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi last week, the Chief Minister could only get the approval for removal of Health Minister D L Ravindra Reddy from the cabinet.
Mr Ravindra was sacked on Saturday night even as the Chief Minister's aides spread talk that the axe might fall on at least two other ministers.
Congress sources here indicate that Mr Kiran Reddy is keen on removing Endowments Minister C Ramachandraiah, who, like Mr Ravindra, has been criticising the government over a host of issues.
With Congress taking the stance that all "tainted" ministers should be removed, a question mark hangs on the fate of at least three ministers who are under the CBI scanner in the illegal assets case against Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Unlike Sabita Indra Reddy and Dharmana Prasada Rao, the three ministers - Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Kanna Lakshminarayana and J Geeta Reddy - have not been charge-sheeted by CBI.
Whether to wait till that formality is completed to show the three ministers the door is the dilemma Mr Kiran Reddy is caught in.
Similarly, the Chief Minister is in a fix on how to go about Secondary Education Minister K Parthasarathy who has been convicted by a special court in a FERA violation case.
The minister is continuing in his position based on a court stay.
A total revamp of the cabinet has been proposed so that all such ministers could be "eased out" without much ado.
The Chief Minister, sources close to him say, is hoping to get a "clear direction" from the party high command at least now so that the exercise is completed at the earliest.
It is understood that on Mr Kiran Reddy's list are MLAs Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (currently Deputy Speaker), Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy (government Chief Whip), T Jayaprakash Reddy (Whip), Veerasiva Reddy, Kamalamma and Adinarayana Reddy, all three from Kadapa district.
To negate the impact of Ravindra Reddy's dismissal, Mr Kiran Reddy is said to be inclined to induct former minister Gade Venkat Reddy into the cabinet once again as the former and the latter are closely related.
Incidentally, it was to accommodate Mr Ravindra that Mr Kiran Reddy had sacked Mr Gade from the Cabinet in December 2010. If the Congress high command agrees to the inclusion of MLCs in the cabinet, seniors like D Srinivas and Md Ali Shabbir will be top on the list followed by the like of Rudraraju Padma Raju and Changal Rayudu, both considered close to the CM.
In the event, another MLC and Mr Kiran Reddy's trusted aide M Ranga Reddy could also make it to balance the equations in Ranga Reddy district, party sources indicate.