The newly appointed Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana, on Thursday hinted at a Cabinet reshuffle before the end of June. Mr Satyanarayana who is also the transport minister in the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet came to the Secretariat after being named the state party chief. The PCC chief said he is sure that the central leadership will maintain the regional and caste balance in the reshuffle.

It may be recalled that the seasoned politician from Vizianagaram had, along with the tourism minister, Mr V. Vasanth Kumar, raised the voice of dissent on the day Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy constituted his Cabinet. Mr Satyanarayana had complained to the party leadership that the Chief Minister was allocating important portfolios to ministers of a particular community. Asked about these earlier objections, the new PCC chief said he will stick to his stand on the issue. At present. there are 37 ministers in the Cabinet after the resignation of Mr Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy and Mr Jupalli Krishna Rao. The upper limit for the Cabinet is 44.

The Praja Rajyam, which is to merge with the Congress, will be allotted two berths, so there will be room for five more ministers. Mr Satyanarayana dismissed the contention that Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would pose a threat to the Congress and said all the Congress legislators were in the party fold now. Referring to former minister, Ms Konda Surekha, the PCC president said the party had already served notice to her. Maintaining that the Congress was not afraid of holding polls to local bodies, he said the government would consider special officers only if there were administrative hurdles in holding elections.