Congress Tries to Quell Discontent Among Cabinet Aspirants

Hyderabad: The Congress leadership has stepped up damage control measures to quell rising discontent among senior leaders, particularly after several of them were left out of Sunday’s Cabinet expansion. Ministers D. Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar met senior MLAs K. Premsagar Rao and Malreddy Ranga Reddy for the second consecutive day, in a bid to pacify them.

Former minister and Bodhan MLA P. Sudharshan Reddy remains unreachable by the party leadership, with his supporters in the Bodhan constituency rallying behind him. These supporters have called for a ‘Bodhan bandh’ on Tuesday in protest against his exclusion from the Cabinet. They have also threatened to submit mass resignations to the party and announced plans to protest outside Gandhi Bhavan.

Sridhar Babu met Ibrahimpatnam MLA Malreddy Rangareddy at his camp office on Monday. Ranga Reddy, expressing his dissatisfaction, once again voiced concerns over the exclusion of undivided Rangareddy and Hyderabad districts from the Cabinet. He pointed out that nearly 60 per cent of Telangana’s population resides in these districts, and it was shocking that both areas were left unrepresented even after 18 months of the Congress government. The local leadership and cadres had placed their hopes on the recent cabinet expansion, hoping for representation, but their expectations were dashed.

Ranga Reddy lamented that the party’s lack of attention to Hyderabad and Rangareddy had demoralised party workers and leaders in these regions, potentially damaging the party's prospects, especially with local body elections on the horizon.

Responding to this, Sridhar Babu reassured Rangareddy that the issues had been taken up with the party high command. He explained that the cabinet expansion on Sunday had focused on ensuring social justice by giving due representation to marginalised sections, particularly SCs, STs, and BCs, in line with the Congress' policy and Rahul Gandhi's vision.

He added that only three of the six vacant Cabinet positions had been filled, and promised that the representation from Hyderabad and Rangareddy would be ensured in the next round of cabinet expansion.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar met Mancherial MLA K. Premsagar Rao to address his grievances. They explained that due to caste considerations, the party had chosen Gaddam Vinod, from the SC Mala community in undivided Adilabad district, leaving no room for a second minister from the district. However, they assured Premsagar Rao that his concerns would be brought to the attention of the party high command, and promised he would receive due recognition in future government nominations.