TDP's Gajapathi Raju may be inducted in union cabinet

BJP is also likely to induct its former president Venkaiah Naidu into the cabinet

Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju is likely to be the lone face from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to be inducted into the union cabinet Monday, party sources said.

This was believed to have been decided at the meeting TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu had with Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi in Delhi Sunday.

Naidu reportedly urged Modi to give the TDP six berths - three each of cabinet and ministers of state ranks.

However, Modi said that under the first phase, only one MP from the TDP would be inducted into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cabinet.

Raju is likely to be sworn in along with other ministers after the swearing in of Modi as the prime minister.

The 62-year-old was elected to Lok Sabha from Vizianagaram in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. This scion of the Pusapati royal family is one of the senior-most leaders of the TDP. In a political career spanning nearly 35 years, he was elected to Andhra Pradesh assembly seven times and held various ministries in the state cabinet.

The TDP, a constituent of the NDA, has 16 MPs - 15 from Andhra Pradesh (Seemandhra) and one from Telangana.

Meanwhile, the BJP is also likely to induct its former president Venkaiah Naidu and its MP from Secunderabad, Bandaru Dattatreya, into the cabinet.

Venkaiah Naidu, a member of Rajya Sabha, had served as a minister in Vajpayee government. Dattatreya, the sole BJP MP from Telangana, was then a minister of state.