A day after the Congress high command, in principle, gave nod to the Cabinet expansion in Telangana, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal met party president Mallikarjun Kharge to brief him about the consultations.
Thursday’s late night meeting, where the CM, Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC in-charge of Telangana Deepa Dasmunshi were present, decided that Cabinet would be expanded at the earliest.
The leaders deliberated on caste composition and the likely legislators, who would be inducted. While there was general consensus over Cabinet expansion, the focus was on balancing the caste equation.
It was decided that the Cabinet will include those from Reddy, Velama, Mudiraj and SC communities. The focus was on giving representation to districts like Nizamabad, erstwhile Adilabad, Rangareddy and Mahabubnagar. Names of P. Sudarshan Reddy, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, Malreddy Ranga Reddy, T. Rammohan Reddy, Premsagar Rao, Madan Mohan Rao, and Vakati Srihari Mudiraj are doing the rounds.
Modalities discussed
A Minister, who has been camping in Delhi and was privy to the discussions, told The Hindu that the Cabinet expansion would be done soon. “The modalities were discussed in the meeting and there was general consensus that caste equations have to be balanced and a representation should be given to unrepresented districts,” he said.
In the meantime, aspirants for the TPCC chief post continued to lobby hard in New Delhi. While TPCC working president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud is still in Delhi meeting the Central leadership, former MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud, AICC Secretary S.A. Sampath Kumar and Mahabubabad MP P. Balram Naik also met Union leaders. Ms. Dasmunshi had a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Yaskhi and Mr. Vikramarka.
