HYDERABAD: Sworn in as ministers in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government on Thursday morning, erstwhile PRP legislators C Ramachandraiah and Ghanta Srinivasa Rao lost little time in beginning a wrangle over portfolios.Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is understood to have offered them a choice of some portfolios lying vacant in his cupboard: these included infrastructure, endowments and handlooms and textiles.The incumbents of these portfolios had either been sacked (P Shankar Rao) or had chosen to become martyrs to the Telangana cause (Jupally Krishna Rao and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy).However, the new inductees, and the leader of their defunct party, K Chiranjeevi, are said to be bargaining for key portfolios like agriculture or commercial taxes or energy.To pursue the bargain, Chiranjeevi drove to the chief minister’s camp office and was closeted with him for nearly 45 minutes.According to sources, Chiranjeevi told Kiran Kumar that when the Congress high command offered the Praja Rajyam two berths in the cabinet, an assurance was also given that the incumbents would get key portfolios.But Kiran Kumar Reddy is understood to have said that he only had permission to offer the PRP the subjects vacant at present.The chief minister wanted Chiranjeevi to wait for a cabinet reshuffle which would take place sooner or later to secure better portfolios.Disappointed, Chiranjeevi went home and summoned Ramachandraiah and Srinivasa Rao for a meeting and instructed them not to budge from their demand.He is then learnt to have spoken to PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana to take up the issue with the chief minister.Accordingly, Satyanarayana met the chief minister and made an attempt to persuade him.However, it seemed to have cut no ice.Indications late in the evening were that the chief minister has adopted a take-it-or-leave-it attitude towards the new entrants to his cabinet.The day began with the swearing in of the two erstwhile PRP legislators in a low-key affair.Many ministers and ministerial aspirants gave the ceremony a miss as it had nothing for them.The ministers present and the new inductees posed for a photograph with the chief minister and governor.Though these inductions lent some imbalance to the regional composition of the cabinet, the chief minister appears to have decided not to address the issue right now.The total strength of the cabinet now is 38 including the chief minister.
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