Amaravati, Sep 11: The Andhra Pradesh Government has granted Jana Sena MLC Konidela Nagababu Cabinet-Rank Status, appointing him as Chairman of the AP-GREEN Executive Committee with salary and allowances, raising a question of whether this is an office of profit that could disqualify him from the Legislative Council.
Nagababu, already an MLC and elder brother of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, was appointed in mid-August 2026 to head the executive committee of the newly structured AP Society for Greening and Reforestation for Ecological Enrichment. The stated goal is to raise combined forest and tree cover to 50% of the state’s geographical area by 2047. The Environment and Forests Department, which Pawan Kalyan himself holds, issued the order granting him Cabinet-rank facilities. He assumed charge later that month and was even felicitated by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Nagababu, already an MLC and elder brother of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, was appointed in mid-August 2026 to head the executive committee of the newly structured AP Society for Greening and Reforestation for Ecological Enrichment. The stated goal is to raise combined forest and tree cover to 50% of the state’s geographical area by 2047. The Environment and Forests Department, which Pawan Kalyan himself holds, issued the order granting him Cabinet-rank facilities. He assumed charge later that month and was even felicitated by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Article 191(1)(a) of the Constitution disqualifies a person from being or remaining a member of a state legislature if he holds an office of profit under the state government, unless that specific office has been exempted by law. In the previous case of the Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, she was disqualified after being appointed as the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council, a post that was considered an office of profit.
Nagababu’s appointment looks uncomfortably similar. The government has explicitly tied Cabinet-rank benefits (GO referenced from January 2025) to the chairmanship: roughly ₹2 lakh monthly salary plus a one-time grant and other allowances that reports put in the ₹4.5 lakh range, plus personal staff and official facilities. That combination usually satisfies the “office of profit” tests.
Andhra Pradesh can exempt offices through the Payment of Salaries and Removal of Disqualifications Act, 1953, and it has done so in the past for certain corporation chairpersons. Has the AP-GREEN Executive Committee Chairman been added to that Schedule? The government has not produced a clear, public amendment or notification saying so. Granting “Cabinet rank” by executive order is not the same as a legislative exemption. One does not automatically cancel the other.
