Kishan gets coal, Bandi is Shah deputy

Senior BJP leader G. Kishan Reddy continued to get prominence in the Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet; he will now be handling the coal and mines ministries. He previously handled tourism, culture and the northeast regions. Firebrand Telangana leader Bandi Sanjay will be a deputy to Union home minister Amit Shah. This was a post once held by Kishan Reddy. The lone Cabinet minister from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, TD MP K. Rammohan Naidu, was assigned the ministry of civil aviation. The benefit the state may accrue out of the ministry is minimal as it is already exhausted its options to build airports.

The two ministers



of state from AP, however, got portfolios of some use. Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar of the TD was allotted rural development and communications while BJP MP B. Srinivas Varma was given heavy industries and steel. Kishan Reddy won the hearts of the Prime Minister and the second-in-command Amit Shah ever since he was inducted into the Cabinet in 2014. After serving as Shah’s deputy in home in the first stint, Kishan Reddy was elevated as MoS with independent charge in Modi’s second term. He got tourism and the crucial northeast states development. In Modi 3.0 he was allocated coal and mines.