india

Updated: May 08, 2019 19:40 IST

With just two weeks left for the declaration of assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the state’s health minister Kidari Sravan Kumar faces the prospect of being dropped from the cabinet for failing to become a lawmaker within the mandatory six-month period from the day of induction into the cabinet.

Sravan Kumar was inducted into the state cabinet along with minister for minorities’ welfare N M D Farooq by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on November 11. While Farooq was already a member of the legislative council (MLC), Sravan Kumar could not become either an MLC or an MLA because of the announcement of election schedule in March. His six-month period to qualify for either the legislative assembly or legislative council will come to an end on May 10.

According to an official familiar with the development, Governor E S L Narasimhan on Tuesday evening sent a communication to the General Administration Department of the Andhra Pradesh government that Sravan Kumar would cease to continue as a minister with effect from May 11, as he could not become a member of either legislative assembly or legislative council.

The Governor mentioned that as per the Article 164 (4) of the Constitution of India, a minister who, for any period of six consecutive months, is not a member of the legislature of the state shall, at the expiration of the period, cease to be a minister.

Sravan Kumar told reporters that he would discuss the issue with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and take a decision (on quitting the cabinet) as per the latter’s directions.

The 29-year old engineering graduate from IIT (BHU), Varanasi, is the youngest minister in the Naidu cabinet. He was brought into politics by Naidu, after the killing of his father Kidari Sarveshwar Rao, an MLA from Araku in Visakhapatnam, by Maoists at Livitiputtu tribal area on September 23.

After Sarveshwar Rao’s death, the Election Commission did not notify the bye-elections to Araku seat since the assembly elections were only a few months away. In the April 11 elections to the state assembly, the TDP fielded him from Araku. But even before his fate at the elections is decided, he is on the verge of giving up his cabinet post.