HYDERABAD: The announcement of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) candidates for six MLC seats under MLAs quota on Tuesday has created a buzz over possible Cabinet reshuffle by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao anytime after Sankranthi in January 2022.
The selection of Rajya Sabha member Banda Prakash as MLC has triggered the speculation as he was nominated as MP only in March 2018 and has a term for three more years until March 2024.
This led to debate in TRS circles over the Chief Minister’s purpose of bringing Prakash to the Legislative Council all of a sudden when he still had Rajya Sabha tenure of three years. Party circles speculate that this was done for the purpose of inducting Prakash into the state Cabinet.
There is one vacancy in the Cabinet since May this year due to the ouster of Etala Rajendar from the Cabinet. Prakash and Rajendar come from Mudiraj community from Backward Classes and both represent north Telangana districts. While Rajendar hails from Karimnagar district, Prakash is from Warangal district. Party circles feel Prakash would be the ideal replacement for Rajendar in the Cabinet as it fulfils the caste and regional equations.
However, they express doubts whether Chandrashekar Rao will confine Cabinet reshuffle exercise to filling the lone vacancy by inducting Prakash or undertake full-fledged reshuffle by removing several of existing ministers and inducting fresh faces.
They recollect Chandrashekar Rao reshuffling his entire Cabinet in January 2015 in his first term soon after Sankranthi after sacking Deputy Chief Minister T. Rajaiah from the Cabinet and expect similar things to repeat in January 2022.
Speculation is rife in the TRS circles that a few ministers hailing from Reddy community will be shown the door in the next Cabinet reshuffle. At present, there are six ministers from the Reddy community, Allola Indrakaran Reddy, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, G. Jagadish Reddy, S. Niranjan Reddy, Sabitha Indra Reddy and Ch Malla Reddy besides speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.
Of these, four Reddy ministers will be replaced with ministers from other castes to ensure adequate representation to Dalits (Mala and Madiga) in the Cabinet. At present, there is only one Dalit minister from Mala community, Koppula Eshwar.
