Firebrand YSR Congress party MLA from Nagari assembly constituency and actor R K Roja, who has finally made it to the cabinet of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday, is on cloud nine for her dream coming true at last.
After missing the bus in 2019 itself due to caste equations, Roja got into the Jagan’s cabinet, ironically setting aside the same equation.
Along with Peddireddy, Roja was another MLA from the same community and from the same district to get the cabinet berth.
According to the party sources, Roja will now be playing the role of Kodali Nani, who was dropped from the cabinet, in attacking Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
It was evident from the first comments she has made soon after her name figured in the list of the ministers.
“When I was in the opposition, Chandrababu Naidu vowed not to see me in the assembly as an MLA. Now, Naidu himself has disappeared from the cabinet,” she said.
She said with Jagan appointing him as the cabinet minister, the TDP and its tail party (read Jana Sena Party) are burning with jealousy.
“They are feeling the pinch somewhere,” she remarked.
Roja obviously became emotional, while talking to media in the morning and also later while swearing in as the cabinet minister.
“When I was in the TDP for 10 years, I was not given an opportunity even as an MLA. Now, I have been made not only an MLA twice, but also given the cabinet post now. I am indebted to Jagan for this,” she said, in an emotional tone.
She said she could not control her tears when she got elected as an MLA first in 2014.
“Even now, when I was chosen as the minister, I am equally emotional. I got this post at the eleventh hour, after several obstacles,” she said.
Roja declared that she won’t act in films hereafter nor would she take up the assignments on television shows like Jabardast.