Hyderabad: The Telangana government is likely to expand its cabinet soon as the state leadership has reportedly received the go ahead from the high command. The names doing rounds for the inclusion into the cabinet are – Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Nalgonda), Srihari Mudiraj (Mahbubnagar), Sudarshan Reddy (Nizamabad), and Gaddam Vivek Venkataswamy (Adilabad). It is to be seen if the party will also appoint a minority face as well.
A senior Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leader confirmed that the names are in fact doing rounds with regards of their inclusion into the Telangana cabinet. “If they also decide to give a seat to a Muslim face it will be Shabbir Ali mostly, as he is a senior leader,” he said.
The Congress high command reportedly held discussions with state leaders a day earlier regarding the expansion of the Telangana cabinet, among other things. The government also has to appoint people to corporations. “The names doing rounds now include two Reddy leaders and two Backward Class (BC) leaders, so that sounds about right, especially because the government here has to appease BC groups,” added the TPCC leader.
Among the Congress leaders, Gaddam Vivek has gone back and forth in the party a few times. Over the last decade, Vivek had defected first to the BRS, then back to Congress, then again to the BRS before joining the BJP where had the party’s primary membership. He finally returned to the Congress before the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections. Similarly, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, a longtime Congressman, joined the BJP briefly before returning to the grand old party in the same elections.
The Telangana cabinet, which has a total of 18 seats including the chief minister, has not been expanded since the Congress formed the government in December 2023. The state government under Revanth Reddy was also expected to accommodate a few of the 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to the ruling party since the 2023 polls.
However, infighting in the Congress amongst leaders for Telangana cabinet posts, and other issues like the appointment of new leaders to the TPCC body prevented the party from filling up its cabinet positions. In the current cabinet, there is no minority face. Advisor to the government and ex-MLA Shabbir Ali, who unsuccessfully contested the 2023 state elections, is likely to be given the minority minister post.
Last year, months after the Congress came to power, the high command finally appointed Mahesh Goud as the new party chief in Telangana. Goud’s appointment will also help the party placate its Backward Classes (BC) leaders who have been demanding a higher share in terms of representation within the Congress.
