The much-awaited expansion of the Telangana state cabinet headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy will likely take place next week, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
On Monday evening, Revanth Reddy, along with deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka, irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Telangana Pradesh Congress committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud travelled to New Delhi to meet AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal.
According to the PCC chief, AICC in-charge of Telangana affairs Meenakshi Natarajan was also part of the discussions. “We discussed various issues, including the latest political situation in the state, cabinet expansion, and the formation of TPCC state executive committee,” Goud said.
He said the meeting also discussed the arrangements for the upcoming “Bharat Samvidhan International Conference” scheduled to be held in Hyderabad from April 24 to 26. Around 80 international delegates are expected to attend this event, he said.
On the cabinet expansion, Goud said the high command gathered detailed information from the state leaders about the aspirants. “They will take into consideration various factors before finalising the names. We are hopeful that a decision would come out soon,” the PCC chief said.
A senior Congress leader who is privy to the meeting said the high command had, in principle, given the nod for the cabinet expansion. “It is likely to happen after Ugadi festival, the Telugu new year day, falling on March 30. In all probability, it might happen on April 3,” he said.
The Revanth Reddy cabinet was formed on December 7, 2023, four days after the Congress came to power in Telangana in the assembly elections held on November 30. Along with Revanth, 11 ministers were sworn in as cabinet ministers.
“As per the constitutional provisions, the maximum number of ministers in the Telangana cabinet is 18, including the chief minister. So, there is still scope for filling up of another six vacancies,” the Congress leader said.
The high command is understood to have given the nod to Revanth Reddy to fill up four vacancies for now and asked him to keep two berths vacant. “Of these four vacancies, two may be given to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and one each to the Reddy community and the Scheduled Castes (SC),” the leader quoted above said.
From the OBC category, the key contenders are Srihari Mudiraj and Aadi Srinivas, while 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, another PCC leader said.
“If Revanth Reddy can convince the high command for filling up of the remaining two berths as well, one may be given to minority candidate Amer Ali Khan, a legislative council member, and another to an upper caste or an ST candidate,” he said.
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, he added.
