Hyderabad: Senior Congress leaders including chief minister Revanth Reddy, deputy CM Mallu Bhattimarka, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Goud and all cabinet ministers will be heading to New Delhi in order to appoint a new leaders to the PCC body. The expansion of the state cabinet, of which so far 10 (excluding the CM and deputy CM) seats have been appointed, is also likely to be decided.
The Telangana cabinet, which has a total of 18 seats including the chief minister, has not been expanded since the Congress formed the government in December 2023. The state government under Revanth Reddy was also expected to accommodate a few of the 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to the ruling party since the 2023 polls.
However, infighting in the Congress amongst leaders for cabinet posts, and other issues like the appointment of new leaders to the TPCC body prevented the party from filling up its cabinet positions. In the current cabinet, there is no minority face. Advisor to the government and ex-MLA Shabbir Ali, who unsuccessfully contested the 2023 state elections, is likely to be given the minority minister post.
However, it is learnt that Congress leader Faheem Qureshi, who is reportedly close to the CM, is also vying for the same post. “Things are slow in the Congress and decisions have to be made from the high command. Under the previous government, everything was decided by (ex-CM) KCR in the BRS. Apart from the cabinet, the entire body of the TPCC will have new appointments,” said a leader from the TPCC who did not want to be named.
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Last year, months after the Congress came to power, the high command finally appointed Mahesh Goud as the new party chief in Telangana. Goud’s appointment will also help the party placate its Backward Classes (BC) leaders who have been demanding a higher share in terms of representation within the Congress. In Telangana, BCs are believed to account for about 60% of the population, while the rest is divided between SCs, STs, others and Muslims.
“There is a lot of infighting among leaders and everyone knows that things are slow in the Congress. The government will settle once the cabinet expansion is also fully done. A lot of posts in the TPCC body also have to be filled up and once that is done the party will also focus on organisation,” the Congress leader told Siasat.com.
In the current Telangana government, out of all the 12 posts including the CM and deputy CM, four belong to the Reddy community. Minister Anasuya Seethakka belongs to the tribal community but the tribal welfare post in the cabinet is still with the chief minister. It is to be seen who is also given the minority minister position.
The earlier BRS governments (2014-23) under ex-chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) were also often criticised for only having one Muslim face in his cabinet – ex-minister Mahmood Ali (who also had the home department under him). However, Muslim leaders who were hopeful that the Congress government here would do better than the previous government said that they have been disappointed so far by Revanth Reddy.
“The minority cell is also headless, and the community has no power or post in the party as of now. Hopefully things will change,” said a senior minority leader from the Congress.
