Leaders who missed Cabinet berths asked to support party’s social justice goal.
Hyderabad: After a carefully calibrated Cabinet expansion, providing representation to marginalised sections, the senior Congress leadership reached out to aspirants who did not make it to manage internal party dynamics.
While legislators like Sudarshan Reddy, Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, Malreddy Ranga Reddy, and Premsagar Rao — all from upper castes — aspired for Cabinet posts, the party prioritised social justice by inducting Dr Gaddam Vivek Venkatswamy, Adluri Lakshman Kumar, and Vakiti Srihari.
The induction of three ministers — two from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and one from the Backward Class community — underscores the Congress’ dedication to inclusive governance and empowerment of historically marginalised communities. The Scheduled Tribe (Lambada) community was given representation in the form of Dr Jatoth Ram Chander Naik who was made Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
Central to this effort was the recent Backward Classes (BC) census, which paved the way for announcing 42 per cent reservation in local body elections, reflecting the party’s focus on equitable representation. The state government as also the first to implement the Supreme Court judgment on the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes communities for the purposes of reservation.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Sudarshan Reddy, a four-time MLA representing Bodhan, had hoped for a Cabinet berth, especially since Nizamabad district lacked representation in the Cabinet.
To address his concerns, AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Chief Minister’s adviser Vem Narender Reddy, and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Kumar Yadav visited his residence to explain the high command’s decisions.
Senior MLAs Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, representing Munugode, and Malreddy Ranga Reddy, who represents Ibrahimpatnam, were also persuaded by senior leaders to accept the high command’s decision. Ranga Reddy cancelled his planned press meet, while Mancherial MLA K. Premsagar Rao was also pacified through party discussions.
The Congress leadership emphasised that final decisions rested with the All India Congress Committee (AICC), and the Cabinet expansion aligned with the party’s commitment to social justice rather than political pressure. While some aspirants were initially reluctant, they reportedly accepted the party’s strategy after consultations with the high command.
The party gave priority to seniority and loyalty to the party while selecting among Adluri Lakshman Kumar and Kavvampally Satyanarayana, belonging to Dharmapuri and Mankondur in undivided Karimnagar district. Both of them belong to the SC-Madiga community.
Lakshman Kumar is associated with the party from his student days with NSUI in 1982. He served in Youth Congress and served as Zilla Parishad chairman of Karimnagar. His close association with IT and industries minister Sridhar Babu helped him to get into Cabinet.
Satyanarayana started his political career with Tollywood actor Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam and made a futile bid by contesting for the Assembly in 2009. He also lost in 2014, on a TD ticket. The Congress denied him a ticket in 2018 and won for the first time in 2023.
