Now it’s almost official! AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy may stop short of replacing North Andhra strong man Botsa Satyanarayana in his council of ministers. Despite the talk of a massive reshuffle in his council of ministers, Jagan may not touch Botsa. This has put a stop to the reports that CM was planning to remove Botsa from the cabinet. Botsa is here to stay, say YSRCP watchers.

Jagan had announced at the time of the formation of the government that he would reshuffle his council of ministers after two years based on the performance evaluation of the ministers. With the deadline for the reshuffle approaching, there is palpable tension among the party leaders. Also, Jagan has been systematically edging out seniors and is planning to bring in juniors. So, there was a spate of reports that Botsa would be dropped and would be sent to the Lok Sabha.

But, it now appears that Jagan may not touch Botsa for now and that he would continue as a minister for all the five years. His experience, seniority, his caste and political clout in North Andhra may have made Jagan rethink about replacing him. Highly placed sources say he has also indicated to Botsa’s arch rival and ministerial aspirant Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy that Botsa would not be replaced for now. To compensate, Jagan has made Swamy’s daughter Sravani the deputy chairperson of Vizianagaram. This is a clear indication that Botsa would not be replaced, say political watchers.

This also means great disappointment for Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy. Kolagatla had been a favourite of late YSR and is a favourite of YS Jagan. This also means that it would be political swansong for Swamy, who has a long stint in politics.