Though it is essentially a privilege of the chief minister to decide who should be in his cabinet, Revanth Reddy said that the candidatures of the prospective candidates should be discussed in the party first.
Published Sep 14, 2024 | 11:02 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 14, 2024 | 11:02 AM
Telangana CM Revanth with TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud. (X)
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has thrown of douche of cold water at the aspirations of the legislators who have been daydreaming about getting into his cabinet.
He has linked the expansion to newly elected PCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud getting used to his office. He said that the new chief of the PCC should find his moorings first before he could make meaningful suggestions to the chief minister on inclusions in the cabinet.
Though it is essentially a privilege of the chief minister to decide who should be in his cabinet, he said at an informal interaction with media persons in Delhi on Thursday, 12 September, that the candidatures of the prospective candidates should be discussed in the party first.
Revanth Reddy, by saying so, has made one point very clear: The party is not interested in stopping kicking the can down the road anytime soon.
Some too many heavy-weight aspirants have their godfathers backing them, but the berths that are vacant in the 16-member cabinet are only six.
The chief minister, in his recent visit to Delhi, is understood to have taken up the issue of cabinet expansion with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary KC Venugopal. Later he came out with the reason that Mahesh Kumar Goud has to find his feet before cabinet expansion could take place.
The proposal has been hanging fire for a long time. There were indications that it would be done sooner than later, but nothing had happened. The speculation mill has been working overtime on when Revanth Reddy will fill six slots in the cabinet that are lying vacant.
Several MLAs are trying hard to find their way into the cabinet, by leveraging their relations with the party’s national leadership.
The main reason attributed to the interminable delay in cabinet expansion is that the party leadership is unable to untangle the rapala knot that has been tightening over the exercise each time it is taken up.
The party leadership has not yet found answers to avoiding too much representation in one district and leaving others unrepresented.
Similarly, it also finds it embarrassing to populate the cabinet with relatives and family members of those who are already in the cabinet or had been a major beneficiary of the party’s largesse.
The party has been grappling with the problem of accommodating Munugode legislator Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy since his brother Komatireddy Venkata Reddy is already in the cabinet. Then, there is another important leader—Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy— is also from the same district.
The party, at the same time, cannot go back on its promise of a berth made to Rajagopal Reddy to get his support for the election of the Congress nominee Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy to Lok Sabha from Bhongir.
Rajagopal Reddy kept his end of the bargain and now it is payback time for the Congress but it does not know how to do it. If it does it is sure to attract flak that it had overlooked his brother Venkatareddy who is already in the cabinet.
However Rajagopal Reddy supporters argue that when the party could risk taking three leaders from Khammam, why not the same number from Nalgonda? Heavy-weights Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, and Thummala Nageswara Rao are representing Khammam district in the cabinet.
Another problem that defies the solution is related to two brothers—Gaddam Vivek (Chennur) and Gaddam Vinod (Bellampally)— from the Adilabad district. They have been eyeing a berth in the cabinet. The party has already made Vivek’s son Vamsi Krishna a Lok Sabha member from Peddapally and accommodating one of the two brothers in the cabinet might make eyebrows rise.
As far as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is concerned, he already has a surfeit of big guns in the cabinet—Mallu Bhatti Vikramrka, Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, and N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and Thummala Nageswara Rao—whom he cannot afford to ignore while taking any decision.
In the present scenario, Revanth Reddy could do without another big cheese Rajagopal Reddy in the cabinet, both of whom have a history of hating each other’s guts.
In a subtle way, Revanth Reddy seems to be moving pawns on the political chess board to eliminate the scope for inclusion of Rajagopal Reddy.
Meanwhile, the chief minister appointed Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife Padmavathy as the chairperson of estimates committee of Telangana legislature apparently to show that Nalgonda which already has two ministers now has Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife heading a panel.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)
