The formation of “socially inclusive” cabinet by YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy might have received a lot of appreciation from various quarters, but it is understood to have caused a lot of heartburn among senior party leaders.
On Wednesday, former minister and senior party MLA Kolusu Parthasarathy, who was one of the strong aspirants for the cabinet berth, refused to accept the party whip post in the assembly.
He is understood to have conveyed to the chief minister that the whip post was not a recognition to the services he had been rendering to the party for the last five years.
As a result, Jagan was forced to appoint three others as party whips – Samineni Udaya Bhanu, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy and Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy.
All of them expected berths in the Jagan cabinet but were not successful. They were also sulking for quite some time, but the chief minister tried to pacify them by appointing them as whips.
While Jagan has already tried to pacify firebrand MLA R K Roja by promising her a plum post in lieu of the cabinet berth, there were other seniors like Alla Ramakrishna Reddy and Malladi Vishnu who are said to still upset with being denied the minister posts.
“They would get suitable positions with cabinet rank in the coming days,” a party leader said.