The new ministers, seven of them of Cabinet rank, were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor C Rangarajan at a 30-minute swearing-in function at Raj Bhavan this morning. Incidentally, this is the first time that Rangarajan has sworn ministers in.

The newly-inducted members into the Cabinet are: P Chandrasekhar, S A Khaleel Basha, B V Mohan Reddy, K Pratibha Bharati, K Ramachandra Raju, P Subbaiah and Mandava Venkateswara Rao (Cabinet rank), D Anjaneyulu, C Krishna Yadav, E Peddi Reddy, P Srinivas Reddy, G S S Shivaji and Deveneni Venkata Ramana (ministers of state with independent charge).

Those who faced the axe are Nettam Raghuram (Excise and Prohibition), N Ramkishen Rao (Forest), T Srinivas Yadav (Labour and Employment) and S V Subba Reddy (Roads and Buildings).

Thechief minister simultaneously effected a major reshuffle of portfolios, based on the performance of the existing ministers and the abilities of the new entrants.

The strength of the Cabinet, which was 28 including the chief minister, will go up to 37.

Naidu obtained the resignations of four ministers a few hours before the swearing-in function. He has assured them that their services would be utilised in a different manner.

Srinivas Yadav's exit comes in the wake of induction of Krishna Yadav into Cabinet while the berth to Mohan Reddy compensated the ouster of Subba Reddy representing Kurnool district.

Nettam Raghuram of Krishna district is replaced by Devineni Venkata Ramana while Ramkishen Rao of Karimnagar gave way to Peddi Reddy.

In reconstituting his ministry, Naidu has taken care to give almost equal representation to the upper castes and weaker sections. Of the 13 new additions, seven belong to the upper castes (Reddy 3, Kamma 3, Kshatriya 1 and six to the weaker sections (SCs 2, BCs 3 andminority 1).

Both Nizamabad and Prakasam districts which were unrepresented in the Cabinet will now have three ministers. While there are two from Nizamabad -- Mandava Venkateswara Rao and Srinivas Reddy -- Prakasam will be represented by Anjaneyulu.

Contrary to speculations, NTR's son N Harikrishna and Deputy Speaker M D Farooq did not figure in the new list. Harikrishna was given transport portfolio immediately after Naidu took over as Chief Minister in 1995 but had to resign as he could not be elected to the Assembly in the stipulated six months time. He was later elected from Hindupur, the constituency represented by his father NTR.

Prathibha Bharathi and Mohan Reddy are the two new ministers who initially sailed with NTR and later defected to Chandrababu Naidu group following the split in 1995.