Newly-elected Rajya Sabha members of the Congress from Andhra Pradesh K. Chiranjeevi and Renuka Chowdhury might find places in the Union Cabinet in the next reshuffle, which party insiders say might take place in May.
Mr Chiranjeevi, meanwhile, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday in New Delhi and thanked her for nominating him to the Upper House.
The erstwhile Praja Rajyam leader’s inclusion as a minister of state with independent charge will not come as a surprise as AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had said last year that he would be accommodated once he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. Mr Chiranjeevi’s inclusion was part of the merger package between the Congress and the PRP. When asked about him becoming a Central minister, Mr Chiranjeevi said on Saturday, “This did not figure in my meeting with Soniaji, but I will accept whatever responsibility the party gives me.”
Ms Chowdhury, on the other hand, is not a stranger to the Union Cabinet. She has been Union minister of state (independent charge) twice, during UPA-1 and in the I.K Gujral Cabinet during the United Front rule. “I was given Rajya Sabha membership not as a gift but as a responsibility; I will work as a soldier, whatever assignment Soniaji gives me, I will take it up with full esteem.”