The decision of YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to appoint five deputy chief ministers in his cabinet has become a big sensation in political circles and hit the headlines even in the national media.
His decision was hailed as a major step towards social justice, as all the five deputy chief ministers represent weaker sections likeminorities, SC, ST, BC and Kapus. So, it naturally triggered a big debate in the media.
However, critics view Jagan’s move to appoint five Deputy CMs with a lot of scepticism.
According to former MLC and Osmania University professor K Nageshwar, who in his comments on his YouTube channel, observed that the YSRC president did not want to create any impression that there is No. 2 in his cabinet.
“If there is only one deputy CM, he will naturally gain the recognition as No. 2, after Jagan. If there are five deputy chief ministers, this number game has no significance at all. So, none of them will have any importance over other ministers,” he said.
He also suspected whether Jagan would give prominent portfolios to these five deputy CMs.
"They will be just ornamental posts and the whole authority would be with only Jagan,” Nageshwar said.
Another analyst felt that there would be no resistance in the council of ministers for lack of prominence.
“Nobody could dare question the decision of Jagan to restrict the term of the ministers to just 30 months. And nobody will raise any voice because they were all elected because of Jagan’s popularity. Since he got such a huge mandate, there is no way anybody will express his or her dissent,” the analyst said.
