Sabitha Indra Reddy becomes first woman Home Minister

SETS A RECORD: New Home Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy being greeted by DGP S.S.P. Yadav at her home in Hyderabad on Tuesday. —

HYDERABAD: Patlolla Sabitha Indra Reddy (46) became the first woman Home Minister of the State after Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy allocated portfolios to all the 35 members of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.

The three-time legislator served as the Mines and Geology Minister in the earlier government. She will head the 80,000 strong police force in the State at a time when the anti-naxalite operations have reached a decisive stage. Incidentally, her husband late P. Indra Reddy was also Home Minister in N. T. Rama Rao Cabinet.

K. Rosaiah, who retained the Finance portfolio, lost no time in assuming charge in his old chamber in D Block.

Dr. Reddy, however, kept for himself, the subject of Law & Order, apart from General Administration, Public Enterprise and all other unallocated matters. Dharmana Prasada Rao (Revenue), N. Raghuveera Reddy (Agriculture), Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Major and Medium Irrigation), Pilli Subash Chandra Bose (Social Welfare) and M. Mukesh Goud (BC Welfare) retained the old portfolios they had held in the previous government.Other Ministers to get key portfolios are: D. Sridhar Babu (Higher Education), Jupally Krishna Rao (Civil Supplies), R. Venkat Reddy (Cooperation), S. Vijayarama Raju (Transport), Vatti Vasant Kumar (Rural Development), Kanna Lakshminarayana (Major Industries), A. Ramnarayana Reddy (Municipal Administration), Md. Ahmadullah Syed (Primary Education), C. Shilpa Mohan Reddy (Housing) and Galla Aruna Kumari (Roads and Buildings). Women have been given a sizeable share of the important portfolios with J. Geeta Reddy getting Information & Public Relations and Tourism, G. Aruna Kumari (Roads & Buildings), V. Sunitha Lakshma Reddy (Minor Irrigation) and D.K. Aruna (Small-Scale Industries). Women & Child Welfare, which is usually allotted to a female member in the Cabinet, has gone to Konda Surekha.

As in the earlier government, Health and Medical Department will have three separate Ministers. Danam Nagender gets the all-important Health and Family Welfare, APVVP and Hospital Services. P. Sudarshan Reddy will handle the Medical Education subject while Pithani Satyanarayana is entrusted with the portfolio to handle Arogyasri, 104, 108 and Medical Infrastructure.

Senior leader Gade Venkata Reddy will preside over the Departments of Endowments and Stamps & Registration while Balineni Srinivas Reddy from mine-rich Prakasam district got the crucial Mines and Geology portfolio.

Secondary Education has been bifurcated from Education for the first time as a prelude to the reforms contemplated for long, and entrusted to D. Manikya Varaprasada Rao. Housing, which includes Indiramma, Chief Minister’s pet programme, has been given to a fresher, Shilpa Mohan Reddy.

Congress circles said the Chief Minister had taken care to distribute important portfolios to all the three regions. Accordingly, 10 Ministers from Telangana have been entrusted 10 portfolios out of the 14 berths, while 11 out of the 16 Ministers have plum subjects. In Rayalaseema, four out of the five Ministers were given crucial subjects.

Source : The Hindu.