As the countdown seems to have begun for the proposed re-jig of the Union Cabinet later this week, speculation has gained ground among political circles that late NTR’s daughter and the minister of state for human resources Duggubati Purandareswari may be dropped from the Cabinet. To compensate her removal from the Cabinet, her husband Mr Duggubati Venkateswara Rao may be asked to join the state cabinet, according to sources.

Some of the Telangana congress MPs who heated up the state politics with their agitating approach on the issue of Telangana are also aiming to join the cabinet and Anjan Kumar Yadav, Sarve Satyanarayana and Madhu Yashke Goud are said to be lobbying very fiercely for berths in the cabinet.

Observers, however, doubt whether the party high command will prefer any one from these three overruling the aspirations of seniors like K. Keshava Rao, V. Hanumantha rao, Manda Jagannadham and Ponnam Prabhakar.

Mr Undavalli Arunkumar, a close aid of the late YSR, Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, Kavuri Sambasiva rao, Rayapati Sambasiva rao and Kishore Chandra Dev are also aspiring to join the cabinet from the Seema Andhra area.