Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan, which could not get any berth in the Narendra Modi cabinet at the Centre, is likely to get four ministerial posts in the Telugu Desam Party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by Chandrababu Naidu.
Naidu and his cabinet are going to be sworn in at 11.27 am at Gannavaram on Wednesday.
In all probability, both Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party would also be part of the Naidu cabinet.
According to sources, Pawan had a preliminary round of discussions with Naidu on the cabinet formation in the state and reportedly asked for five cabinet berths for his party in the cabinet.
However, the TDP chief has reportedly told him that there cannot be more than 25 ministers in the cabinet, besides the chief minister. Since the BJP also has to be accommodated in the council of ministers, he would be under lot of pressure from the TDP members as well.
Moreover, he has to balance the regional, caste and gender equations as well in the formation of cabinet, he explained.
So, Naidu has offered four cabinet berths to Jana Sena, including deputy chief minister post to Pawan Kalyan.
“If the Jana Sena chief still insists on one more berth, Naidu may not reject it,” sources said.
Apart from Pawan Kalyan, the others whose names are doing rounds as cabinet ministers from Jana Sena are: Nadendla Manohar, Konathala Ramakrishna, Mandali Buddha Prasad or Lokam Naga Madhavi. If Buddha Prasad cannot be given the cabinet berth, he might be given deputy speaker post.
The BJP may be given two cabinet berths, including of course Sujana Chowdary who got elected from Vijayawada (West), besides Y Satya Kumar from Dharmavaram. Former minister Kamineni Srinivas might not get the berth, as two Kammas cannot be accommodated from the same party.
In fact, Pawan Kalyan initially thought of not accepting any post in the cabinet, as he has to complete a few films on hand.
“But he decided to join the cabinet, as it would give him some sense of responsibility in fulfilling the election promises,” party sources said.