T'gana Cabinet Expansion Delay Leading to Discontent in Cong?

The inordinate delay in the expansion of the Telangana council of ministers by chief minister A Revanth Reddy even after 15 months of the Congress coming to power in the state has caused a lot of discontent in the party, people familiar with the matter said.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD:

On December 7, 2023, Revanth was sworn in as the chief minister of Telangana, after the Congress won the assembly elections held in the state on November 30. Along with him, 11 members took oath as cabinet ministers on the same day.

According to the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003, the total number of ministers in a state cabinet, including the chief minister, cannot exceed 15% of the total number of members in the state's legislative assembly.

While the Telangana cabinet can have a maximum of 18 ministers, there are six vacancies in the Revanth Reddy cabinet.

"Initially, there were indications in the party that Revanth Reddy would expand his cabinet within three months of the formation of the government and there was intense lobbying for the cabinet berths by several aspirants among the MLAs and MLCs. But it did not happen, as the high command did not give the green signal for the cabinet expansion," a senior Pradesh Congress Committee leader (PCC) said on condition of anonymity.

Later, there was a talk in the party that the cabinet expansion would take place after the Lok Sabha election results in June 2024. Though Congress fared reasonably well by winning eight out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, the posts in the state cabinet remained vacant.