The three Ministers from the shrunken Chittoor district in Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s revamped Cabinet have been entrusted with some key portfolios.
While district strongman Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy has been given Energy, Forest, Environment and Science and Technology in addition to the previously held Mines and Geology, Mr. K. Narayanaswamy has been given Excise. As a new face in the Cabinet R.K. Roja, Nagari MLA, will be handling Tourism, Culture, and Youth Affairs.
Mr. Peddireddi, who goes by the titles ‘Peddayana’ and ‘Rayalaseema Tiger’ was the Forest Minister in the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government in 2009. Post the demise of YSR and the replacement of then Chief Minister K. Rosaiah with N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Mr. Peddireddi quit the post owing to differences with Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy. He joined the YSR Congress Party in 2013 and made the party a formidable force in Chittoor district. In 2019, he led the party to an incredible victory in 13 out of 14 MLA seats in the district apart from drastically reducing the majority of the then Chief Minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu in Kuppam.
