The sudden visit of Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy to New Delhi on Monday fuelled the speculations once again over a possible expansion of his cabinet, which has been getting deferred for the last four months.
Normally, such a talk of cabinet expansion surfaces as Dasara festival approaches, as the chief ministers tend to think that Vijayadasami is an auspicious muhurtam for reshuffling or expanding the council of ministers.
However, the reason for Revanth’s sudden visit to Delhi was said to be a for courtesy call of AICC president Mallikharjun Kharge who fell sick during the election campaign in Jammu and Kashmir recently.
But on Tuesday morning, Revanth had a close talk with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and according to reports, he asked for the high command permission to go in for cabinet expansion during Navaratri festivities.
Sources said during the earlier visit of Revanth along with newly-elected PCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud to New Delhi, the discussion on cabinet expansion was made with high command. It was leaked to the media that it might take place in the last week of September.
The size of the Telangana Cabinet is capped at 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Currently, there are 12 ministers. There is no minority representation in the Cabinet, as no Congress candidate from the community had won in the December assembly elections.
To address this, the party may consider nominating a minority leader to the Legislative Council and then induct the MLC into the cabinet.
Names like state government advisor Mohd Ali Shabbir and TPCC working president Mohd Azharuddin have surfaced as potential contenders.
Additionally, there is no cabinet representation for key districts such as Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Adilabad, and Nizamabad.
The party leadership may avoid granting cabinet positions to MLAs from city such as Danam Nagender, T. Prakash Goud and Gudem Mahipal Reddy, who had defected from the BRS, as disqualification petitions are pending in court.
Several Congress MLAs and MLCs are vying for the vacant cabinet positions. Among them are Bhongir MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, P Sudharshan Reddy (Bodhan), Gaddam Vivekanand (Chennur), T. Rammohan Reddy (Parigi) and Malreddy Ranga Reddy (Ibrahimpatnam).
Besides, MLC Balmoor Venkat is also in the running. From the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category, MLAs Vedma Bhojju (Khanapur), Balu Naik Nenavath (Devarakonda) and Jatoth Ramachandru Naik (Dornakal) are also being considered.
In addition, Vemulawada MLA Adi Srinivas, Beerla Ilaiah (Alair) and Vakiti Srihari Mudiraj (Makthal) are hoping for cabinet appointments.
