It has been a month since YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the second chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He formed his full-fledged cabinet on June 8.
But, party sources say many of the ministers, barring a few, do not have much activity to do, except attending the official meetings called by Jagan.
The ministers are yet to know what powers they have – whether they can hold official review meetings, get briefing from the officials on their subjects or conduct surprise visits on their own.
As of now, the ministers are simply following what the boss is ordering – whether it is formation of sub-committee into the alleged irregularities of the previous Telugu Desam Party government, or briefing media on the outcome of the official meetings.
It has been a practice that since the ministers are people in power, they get recommendations from the party leaders about transfers of local inspectors and sub-inspectors, mandal revenue officers or even teachers.
But unfortunately, the ministers in Jagan cabinet are not able to get even these small favours from officials.
For example, if a minister has to recommend transfer of a sub-inspector, they have to process the applications through Jagan’s principal advisor Ajeya Kallam.
“If Kallam finds the request genuine, he will process it through home department and from there to the Director General of Police. The minister cannot call up the district superintendent of police directly and ask for a transfer,” a party source said.