It was on December 9, 2024 that there was a statement from Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu announcing the candidatures of Beeda Mastan Rao, Sana Satish and R Krishnaiah (from BJP) for the three Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
In the same press statement, Naidu announced that Jana Sena Party general secretary Konidela Naga Babu, elder brother of party president and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, would be inducted into the state cabinet soon.
A full year has passed since Naidu issued the statement, but till now, there has been no such move to take Naga Babu into the state cabinet. There are no indications of Naga Babu becoming the state minister in the near future as well.
Those days, when media persons questioned Pawan Kalyan about when Naga Babu would be taken into the state cabinet, he said it would happen only after the latter becomes an MLC.
In March 2025, Naga Babu was elected to the state legislative council under MLAs’ quota. Yet, there are no signs of any cabinet expansion.
For the YSR Congress party, which is virtually running out of ideas to attack Naidu and the TDP-led coalition, the non-induction of Naga Babu into the state cabinet has come as an opportunity to take a dig at Naidu.
On Tuesday, YSRCP’s media arm “Sakshi” posted Naidu’s statement issued a year ago and described the denial of cabinet berth to Naga Babu as “pacha potu” (yet another instance of backstabbing).
According to Sakshi, the failure to induct Naga Babu into the cabinet exposes friction within the ruling alliance and highlights Naidu’s reluctance to share power meaningfully with JSP, despite the party’s crucial role in delivering a consolidated mandate in 2024.
The media report says Pawan Kalyan is also in a helpless situation as he is not able to bring pressure on Naidu to either give cabinet berth to Naga Babu or send him to Rajya Sabha.
Needless to say, Sakshi is trying to project that there is internal discomfort within the coalition.
