With AICC state party affairs incharge Gulam Nabi Azad opining for a major surgery to AP Congress, in an attempt to shore up Kiran Kumar's government, the Congress high command is believed to have finalized the names of deputy chief minister, PCC president, speaker and deputy speaker. According to top Congress sources, the names will be announced today or on Monday, once the Congress core committee clears them.

According to sources, the ruling party has zeroed in on the name of Damodar Raja Narasimha, a member of the SC community from the Telangana region, for the post of deputy chief minister, transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana for the post of PCC president, Nadendla Manohar as speaker and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka as deputy speaker. "Though major industries minister J Geeta Reddy's name, also from the SC community, was also in the reckoning along with Damodar Rajanarasimha, the Reddy surname went against her as the Congress wanted to make it clear to the people that it wants to champion the backward and Dalit cause," said the sources.

For the PCC president's position, the name of housing minister Kanna Lakshminarayana was also considered but was dropped after it was fiercely opposed by his arch rival from Guntur, Rayapati Sambasaiva Rao. The sources inform, after the AICC General Secretary Azad was flooded with complaints that the Reddy community had cornered all prime posts under CM Kiran Kumar, the high command decided to give representation to the other communities in the key posts that were lying vacant. It was in this context that Vikramarka, a member of the SC community, was chosen for the post of deputy speaker.