Three Congress MLAs Sworn-In As Ministers In Telangana Cabinet
Governor Jishnu Dev Varma administered the oath of office and secrecy at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. CM Revanth Reddy, his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Hyderabad, Jun 8 (PTI) Ruling Congress MLAs G Vivek Venkata Swamy, Adluri Laxman Kumar and Vakiti Srihari were sworn-in as ministers in the Telangana government on Sunday, marking the first cabinet expansion under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Governor Jishnu Dev Varma administered the oath of office and secrecy at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and other leaders were present on the occasion.
The induction of the three new ministers ends weeks of speculation over the expansion of the council of ministers headed by Revanth Reddy.
It follows recent discussions between CM Revanth Reddy, state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, and the AICC leadership in Delhi regarding cabinet appointments and party posts.
The full strength of the Telangana cabinet, including the Chief Minister, is 18.
With the induction of the three new ministers, the number of ministers rose to 15.
Following the induction of the three new ministers on Sunday, now there are three vacancies in the cabinet.
The appointment of state Congress office bearers, including the working president and others, has been pending since Goud took over as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president in September, 2024.
In a post on X, Reddy also congratulated party legislator Ramchander Naik on becoming the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The appointment of the three new ministers and the deputy speaker reflected the focus of ruling Congress on social justice.
Vivek and Laxman Kumar belong to SC (Mala) and SC (Madiga) communities respectively, while Srihari is a leader who hails from the backward classes.
Ramchander Naik represents the ST community.
Vivek Venkata Swamy, son of late Congress veteran G Venkataswamy, is a senior leader who had served as Lok Sabha member earlier.
Popularly known as Vivek, he started his political career with Congress but also worked with the BRS and BJP before returning to the Congress ahead of 2023 assembly elections.
Vivek had also served as the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA). Vivek's elder brother G Vinod is an incumbent Congress MLA, while Vivek's son Vamsi Krishna is a sitting Lok Sabha member.
In a bid to placate ministerial hopefuls who were left disappointed over their non-inclusion in the cabinet, AICC incharge of party affairs in Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan, state Congress president Mahesh Kumar Goud visited the residences of Congress MLAs P Sudarshan Reddy and Prem Sagar, party sources said.
Mahesh Kumar Goud, who met party MLA from Ibrahimpatnam Malreddy Ranga Reddy in a bid to assuage his feelings, said the party ensured caste balance in the cabinet expansion.
The induction of new ministers was done considering the caste survey conducted by the Congress government in the state and SC categorisation and that three more berths in the cabinet are yet to be filled, he said in a release.
Goud also said he has understood the concerns of Ranga Reddy and communicated the same to AICC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan and CM Revanth Reddy.
Ranga Reddy told reporters that he would not oppose the decision of the party high command.
Observing that he has conveyed his views to the party leadership, Ranga Reddy hoped that the party would take corrective measures on the basis of what he expressed.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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