Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today constituted a 39-member new Council of Ministers to help him with the job of running the state.

As expected, two Jagan loyalists Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose were axed while Kiran Kumar's bitter rival in Chittoor district, P R Reddy, was also shown the door.

Jagan's uncle Vivekananda Reddy, younger brother of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was inducted into the Cabinet. He is the lone member from the state Legislative Council to be made a minister.

11 new faces, including seven debutants, were among those inducted in the cabinet. They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E S L Narasimhan at a function in the Raj Bhavan in the presence of former Chief Minister K Rosaiah and a host of other leaders.

Senior leaders K Jana Reddy, D L Ravindra Reddy, Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy and P Shankar Rao have made a comeback into the Cabinet while another senior Gade Venkata Reddy was dropped.

Guntur district retained the top slot in the Cabinet with four berths, though with a single change. Hyderabad, Medak and Kadapa districts are next with three ministers each.

Adilabad district that has only one Congress MLA has been left with a blank in the Cabinet yet again. Earlier, Kiran Kumar entered the state Secretariat for the first time after taking charge as Chief Minister on November 25.

He entered his official chamber in the Samatha Block of the Secretariat at 9.52 AM, the auspicious time fixed for the occasion.

The seven first-timers in the Cabinet are:

T.G. Venkatesh, E. Pratap Reddy, Thota Narasimham, Maheedhar Reddy, Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, Pratap Reddy S. Sailajanath, Basavaraju Saraiah, said to be the only MLA belonging to the washerman community in south India.

There are four ministers who were not in the YSR-Rosaiah Cabinet in Mr Kiran's team, including Mr Jana Reddy, Mr D.L. Ravindra Reddy and Mr P. Shanker Rao.

The Chief Minister has adhered to the Gentleman's Agreement in regional allocation. Sixteen ministers are from Telangana, 16 from Coastal Andhra, and eight from Rayalaseema, including the Chief Minister himself.

The new team has great focus on weaker sections, who form 45 per cent of the cabinet: 10 ministers belong to BC communities, ST 1, SC 6, minorities 1, totalling 18.

Among the 22 others are: Reddy 14 (including the CM); Kapus 3; Velama 1; Vysya 1; Kshatriya 1; Brahmin 1; Kamma 1.
The Chief Miniister enlarged the size of his team to 39, from 33 in the Rosaiah Cabinet. He is allowed a maximum of 44 ministers, including himself, or 15 per cent of the strength of the Assembly.

Due to this, the strength of SCs goes up from 4 to 6 in the Cabinet, Kapu 2 to 3 and the number of Reddys goes up from 10 to 11.

Five ministers in the YSR-Rosaiah do not figure in the Kiran Kumar Reddy team: Pilli Subhash Chandra, Balineni Srinivas Reddy, P. Ramachandra Reddy, Chinta Mohan Reddy, Gade Venkat Reddy.

Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, who was expected to included in the Cabinet, does not figure in the list.

The full list of ministers is as follows:

North Coastal Andhra:
Dharmana Prasad Rao

S. Vijayarama Raju

Botsa Satynarayana

T. Balaraju

East Godavari

P Vishwaroop

Thota Narasimham (New)

West Godavari
V. Vasant Kumar

P. Satyanarayana Krishna

K. Parthasarathy

Guntur
M. Venkataramana

Kanna Laxminarayana

Manikya Vara Prasad

Kasu Krishna Reddy (returning to cabinet)

Prakasam
M. Maheedhar Reddy (New)

Nellore
Anam Ramanarayana Reddy

Chittor
Galla Aruna Kumari

Kadapa
Ahmedulla

D.L. Ravindra Reddy (returning after 16 years)

Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy (New)

Anantapur
N Raghuveera Reddy

S. Sailajanath (New)

Kurnool
Pratap Reddy (New)

T.G Venkatesh (New)

Mahbubnagar
D.K. Aruna

Jupally Krishna Rao

Ranga Reddy

Sabita Indira Reddy

Hyderabad
Danam Nagender

Mukesh Gowd

P. Shanker Rao (Returning after 16 years)

Medak
Dr J. Geeta Reddy
Damodar Rajanarasimha
Sunita Laxma Reddy

Nizamabad
Sudershan Reddy old

Karimnagar
Sridhar Babu

Warangal
Ponnala Lakshmaiah
Basavaraju Saraiah (new)

Khammam
R. Venkat Reddy

Nalgonda
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy

Jana Reddy (returning after 18 months)