The Telangana Cabinet should ideally have 18 ministers, of which six positions were vacant. With the inclusion of three more now, three spots still remain open.
Published Jun 08, 2025 | 11:22 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 08, 2025 | 1:14 PM
G Vivek Venkatswamy, Adluri Laxman Kumar, and Vakiti Srihari Mudiraj
Synopsis: The Congress high command has named three MLAs to be included in the Telangana cabinet — all of them first-time MLAs. Meanwhile, the party has not yet considered the choices of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
In what appears to be a clear snub to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the Congress central leadership did not consider his choices while going ahead with the expansion of the state cabinet on Sunday, 8 June.
For several months now, Revanth Reddy has been pushing the candidature of Bodhan MLA P Sudarshan Reddy and, in fact, wanted to give him the portfolio of Home.
The central leadership of the Congress had dropped hints to party leaders that the cabinet expansion was being delayed because of Revanth Reddy’s insistence on taking Sudarshan Reddy on board and not because of any indecision on its part.
Telangana Governor Vishnu Dev Varma administered the oath of office to the newly appointed ministers — Adluri Laxman Kumar, Vakiti Srihari, and Gaddam Vivek Venkataswamy — at a solemn swearing-in ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan.
When the official list arrived in Hyderabad on Sunday morning with the names of G Vivek, Laxman Kumar, and Vakiti Srihari, Sudarshan Reddy’s name was missing, leaving Revanth Reddy red-faced.
Even as Revanth Reddy was pushing for Sudarshan Reddy’s inclusion, party’s state unit President B Mahesh Kumar Goud opposed his candidature, making the situation dicey for the chief minister.
In a last-ditch effort, Revanth Reddy had even pleaded with the party high command to accommodate his request for only Sudarshan Reddy and that he would be game for any MLA whom the party might nominate for inclusion in the cabinet, which too was ignored.
Interestingly, all three cabinet positions filled on Sunday went to first-time MLAs. While G Vivek served as an MP from 2009 to 2014, this is his first term as an MLA. Vakiti Srihari and Laxman Kumar are also first-time MLAs.
The party also cleared the name of Ramachandra Naik (Dornakal) for the post of deputy speaker in the Assembly.
The Telangana Cabinet should ideally have 18 ministers, of which six positions were vacant. With the inclusion of three more, three spots still remain open.
The party leadership preferred Vivek from Chennur for the cabinet as it had promised him a berth at the time of his joining the Congress. Since Vivek is a Mala among Scheduled Castes (SCs), the party decided to allot a berth to the Madiga subcaste of SCs to strike a balance and preferred Adluri Laxman Kumar from Dharmapuri.
Vakiti Srihari, a Backward Class (BC) MLA from Makthal, is interestingly the choice of the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
The party high command, while clearing the three names, has reportedly made it clear that it would not consider any forward caste legislators for filling the three vacant berths.
It has also made it clear to Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy that it cannot consider him since his elder brother, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, is already in the cabinet as Roads and Buildings Minister.
In fact, Rajagopal Reddy was offered a berth in the cabinet at the time of his joining the Congress, from the BJP, and it renewed its promise subsequently while seeking his help in the election of Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy to Lok Sabha from Bhongir, but the party left him high and dry. It remains to be seen how he would react to his exclusion from the cabinet.
Then, Revanth Reddy is not alone who has been left with a bitter taste in his mouth. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s pleadings before the party high command for the inclusion of Mancherial MLA A Premsagar Rao in the cabinet too did not cut any ice.
Premsagar Rao, who belongs to the Velama community, a forward caste, recently raised his voice against the party high command when Vivek’s name began doing the rounds that he would be taken into the cabinet.
At a public meeting attended by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Information Technology Minister D Sridhar Babu in his constituency, he warned the party high command that he may have to chalk out his course outside the party if he is not taken into the cabinet.
The party high command, which does not like voices of defiance or revolt, decided to end the disturbing trend with hints that no upper-caste leader would be considered for filling the cabinet berths.
The party’s decision on the inclusion of the three MLAs followed a thorough discussion by the party in charge for Telangana, Meenakshi Natarajan, with MLAs and later a one-on-one talk with the chief minister on the merits and demerits of the prospective ministers recently.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Legislative Council Chairman Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Assembly Speaker G Prasad Kumar, and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
Several cabinet ministers, including Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, Damodar Rajanarsimha, Ponnam Prabhakar Goud, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Dhanasari Anasuya (Seethakka), and Konda Surekha, were present to witness the occasion.
Other dignitaries in attendance included Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao, Director General of Police (DGP) Jitender, AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, several MPs, MLCs, MLAs, corporation chairpersons and senior government officials.
Mahesh Kumar Goud extended his warm congratulations and best wishes to the newly inducted ministers. He also conveyed his greetings to Ramachandra Naik.
Goud emphasised that the Congress party stands firmly for social justice, giving representation and priority to the poor and marginalised sections of society while respecting caste diversity.
On this occasion, the TPCC chief thanked Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, and Meenakshi Natarajan for their continued guidance and leadership.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
