The Telangana CM has chosen his confidants for important positions — all of which have Cabinet ranks — in both the state and the Centre.
Published Jan 21, 2024 | 11:39 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 21, 2024 | 11:49 AM
Clockwise from top left: Mallu Ravi, Harkara Venugopal, Vem Narender Reddy, and Md Ali Shabber. (Supplied)
The suspense over the filling of nominated posts is slowly lifting, with Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy appointing three of his trusted lieutenants as advisors to the government and one senior leader in an equally important position at Delhi.
Mallu Ravi, senior vice-president of TPCC, will now be the state government’s special representative at the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, former minister Md Ali Shabbir, who lost last year’s Telangana Assembly election from the Nizamabad Urban seat, will be the advisor to the government on SCs, STs, BCs, and minorities.
And then there is Vem Narender Reddy, who is considered a close friend of Revanth Reddy. He will be an advisor to the chief minister on public affairs.
Another confidant of the chief minister, Harkara Venugopala Rao, will be an advisor to the government on protocol and public relations. All four positions carry Cabinet rank.
There has been intense speculation on what positions the four leaders would get for quite some time now.
It was widely felt in the Congress circles that had Shabbir won the election from Nizamabad Urban, he would have found a place in the Revanth Cabinet.
This is because he would have been the only MLA from the Muslim community in the Congress. He is also very close to Revanth Reddy, and stood by the TPCC chief when some sections attacked him in the past.
According to party sources, Ali Shabbir was in fact tipped to an MLC, but the party leadership decided on TPCC vice-president Mahesh Kumar Goud and NSUI president Balmoori Venkat.
This cast a shadow on Shabbir’s future, with Congress leaders insisting that it would set a bad precedent if those who lost in the Assembly elections were to be taken into the Cabinet through the MLC route.
Ever since the Congress came to power in Telangana, Shabbir was always on the side of Revanth Reddy, fuelling speculation that he would be rewarded with an important sinecure — if not a berth in the Cabinet — before long.
When the Congress was in power in Andhra Pradesh before the formation of Telangana in 2014, Shabbir was a minister in late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet and handled the important portfolio of power, learning the ropes quickly and getting a firm grip on the administration.
Vem Narender Reddy represented the Mahabubabad segment in the Assembly on behalf of TDP between 2004 and 2009. In 2009, the constituency became reserved.
After his election to the Assembly in 2004, he became close with Revanth Reddy, who was then an MLC. The two young leaders used to share a strong friendship.
He joined the Congress along with Revanth Reddy ahead of the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections.
In fact, Revanth Reddy landed in hot waters while helping Vem Narender. It was when he was allegedly negotiating a deal with a nominated MLA for the election of Narender as Telangana MLC in 2015 under the MLA quota that the ACB swooped in on him and caught him with cash.
The BRS gunned for Revanth Reddy and had him arrested while Chandrababu Naidu allegedly left Telangana with the intent to consolidate his position in Andhra Pradesh.
Mallu Ravi, a dyed-in-the-wool Congress leader, happens to be the brother of Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
When YSR was the chief minister of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the SC leader discharged duties as a special representative in Delhi.
That stint is expected to help him as he has been appointed in the same position now. He represented Nagarkurnool in the 13th Lok Sabha (1991-96).
Harkara Venugopal, who is at present in charge of the TPCC’s Protocol Department, will be an advisor to the government on protocol, a territory he is quite familiar with.
He is a senior leader of the party and has been with it through its thick and thin. It is said that he was taken on as an advisor in recognition of his service to the party.
