Chief Minister Revanth Reddy while taking oath as Chief Minister in December, 2023 announced that he will expand his cabinet within two months. But, even after 15 months he is unable to take up expansion. Though TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud himself announced that it will be expanded around Ugadi, last month, as the party leadership is failing to find consensus on possible MLAs to be included in the cabinet.
This is leading to impatience among the party leaders, who are expecting cabinet berth. As the ministerial expansion is being delayed, verbal bullets are exploding among the aspirants. In the wake of the increasing voices of dissent in the Congress party, the cabinet expansion has become a hot topic in state politics.
Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, Premsagar Rao, Malreddy Ranga Reddy, and Vivek Venkataswamy have already expressed their displeasure over the delay in the cabinet expansion, while some others have recently followed suit. The comments made by Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy that senior leader Jana Reddy was preventing him from getting a ministerial berth in the cabinet expansion have created a huge uproar in the Congress party.
Similarly, Mancherial MLA Premsagar Rao’s comments on Chennur MLA Vivek Venkataswamy’s family and his comments that there would be serious consequences if he did not get the ministerial post caused a stir. Another minister Damodar Raja Narasimha comment that Nalgonda ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy would not step outside without a helicopter, and Ibrahimpatnam MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy’s comments that he would resign from the Congress if he did not get the ministerial post led to a heated debate.
Senior Congress leader Jeevan Reddy dismissed the campaign that he was changing the party and said that he had fought alone for a decade in the combined Karimnagar district and that Congress meant Jeevan Reddy and strengthened the party in the district. He revealed that he is the senior leader in the Telangana Congress Party after V. Hanumantha Rao, and that Jana Reddy also joined the party four years after him.
However, he expressed his concern about the place of seniority in the party. He said that some seniors may have expressed their views. The cycle of postponements in the expansion of the cabinet in the state continues. Since the circumstances are not favorable, it seems that the AICC feels that it is better to postpone the expansion process for a few years.
Currently, there are six more candidates in the state cabinet, but the number of aspirants is twice that. Allocating six ministerial posts by considering districts and social equations has become a problem for the Congress leadership. That is why it seems that the Congress leaders are acting cautiously in this matter regarding the expansion of the cabinet.
