Azharuddin to Take Oath as Minister Tomorrow

The move, coming just ahead of the crucial Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll, is seen as an attempt to boost the Congress’s appeal among Muslim voters, who constitute a significant portion of the electorate in the constituency.

Azharuddin’s induction is being viewed as a strategic political decision addressing two major concerns, the absence of minority representation and the lack of a minister from Hyderabad district in the 23-month-old Congress government.

Of the nearly four lakh voters in Jubilee Hills, around 1.12 lakh are Muslims. The Congress leadership believes that Azharuddin’s inclusion will help consolidate minority support in the bypoll. Although the AIMIM has extended support to the Congress candidate, party strategists feel Azharuddin’s elevation will further strengthen Muslim backing and send a positive message statewide.

The bypoll to the Jubilee Hills seat, necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath, is scheduled for November 11. For the Congress, the contest has become a prestige battle, as the party seeks to reclaim the seat it last won in 2009. Campaigning is in full swing, focusing on welfare schemes and community outreach as key components of the ruling party’s strategy.

In August, following the Supreme Court’s annulment of the MLC nominations of Prof. Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan, the State Cabinet had approved Azharuddin’s nomination to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. However, Governor Jishnu Dev Varma has not yet cleared his nomination. Despite this, the party leadership has decided to proceed with his induction into the ministry.

Azharuddin’s appointment will raise the number of ministers in the Telangana Cabinet to 16, leaving two posts still vacant. Currently, the Congress does not have any Muslim MLA or Cabinet minister, making his inclusion politically significant.

A former MP from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Azharuddin joined the Congress in 2009 and won his first Lok Sabha election the same year. He later contested unsuccessfully from Rajasthan’s Tonk–Sawai Madhopur constituency in 2014. In 2018, he was appointed president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and contested from Jubilee Hills in 2023 but lost to BRS leader Maganti Gopinath.