At last, the Congress high command is learnt to have given the approval to Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy to expand his cabinet.
In all probability, the much-awaited cabinet expansion may take place next week.
Revanth Reddy, along with his cabinet colleagues Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, N Uttam Kumar Reddy and PCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud, flew to New Delhi on Monday night and held discussions with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
During the hour-long discussions, in which AICC in-charge of Telangana affairs Meenakshi Natarajan also took part, the high command gave the nod for the cabinet expansion.
“It is likely to happen after Ugadi festival, probably on April 3,” sources said.
Apparently, Revanth submitted a list of six to eight probables to be inducted into the cabinet.
The high command, however, gave the nod to fill up only four vacancies and told him to keep the two berths vacant for the next phase.
Of these four vacancies, two may be given to the Backward Classes (BCs) and one each to the Reddy community and the Scheduled Castes (SC).
Among the BCs, Revanth is learnt to have suggested the names of Srihari Mudiraj and Aadi Srinivas and for the SC category, the likely candidate is Vivek Venkataswamy, the MLA from Chennur.
Among the aspirants form the Reddy community, the names of former minister P Sudharshan Reddy, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, and Malredy Ranga Reddy are under consideration.
The high command might also give the nod for filling up of the vacant posts of deputy speaker in the state assembly and government chief whip in the next phase.
