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Revanth Reddy was sworn in as the first Congress Chief Minister of Telangana on Thursday after the state was carved out of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Eleven other ministers were also sworn in by Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday afternoon, in the presence of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka became the state’s first Dalit deputy chief minister.
#WATCH | Bhatti Vikramarka takes oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, at Hyderabad’s LB Stadium. pic.twitter.com/KDgIJFdlaW
— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2023
All the sulking senior leaders, including Vikramarka, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Venkat Reddy, and veterans like Ponnam Prabhakar, D Sridhar Babu and Damodar Raja Narasimha find a place in the Cabinet, which has women ministers — Konda Surekha and Dansari Anasuya.
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The erstwhile undivided Khammam district, which the Congress swept in the recent elections, has been adequately represented with Nageshwara Rao and Srinivasa Reddy making it to the Cabinet.
The Cabinet has three Reddys besides Chief Minister Revanth Reddy — Uttam Kumar Reddy, Venkat Reddy and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy. Ponnam Prabhakar and Konda Surekha are the Other Backward Classes (OBC) faces. Dansari Anasuya (ST), Damodar Raja Narasimha (SC) are the other Dalit faces while Sridhar Babu represents the Brahmins; Nageshwara Rao is the lone Kamma face, while Krishna Rao is from the Velama community.
The Nalgonda region, which also the Congress swept, has been well represented by Uttam Kumar Reddy and Venkat Reddy.
A brief introduction of all ministers in the Telangana cabinet.
Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka (Khammam district)
He has been elected for the fourth time from the Madhira (SC) constituency in Khammam district. CLP leader in the outgoing Assembly, he launched a padayatra and covered over 1,400 km across 36 constituencies and is credited with laying the ground for the Congress’s resurgence in the state.
A member of the Pradesh Congress Committee executive committee from 1990 to 1992, Vikramarka became an MLA in 2009 as he won his first Assembly poll from Madhira and worked as the then party government’s chief whip till 2011. He later served as the Assembly Deputy Speaker till 2014. He again won in 2014, 2018, and 2023.
N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Suryapet district)
A former Indian Air Force pilot, Reddy is a six-time MLA — from Kodad from 1999 to 2009, and later from Huzurnagar. When N Kiran Kumar Reddy was made chief minister following the resignation of K Rosaiah in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2010, Reddy was housing minister in his Cabinet. He served as the TPCC chief for six years, from February 2015 to June 2021.
In the December 2018 Assembly elections, Reddy won from Huzurnagar but the Congress asked him to contest from Nalgonda in the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2019, which he won, and resigned as MLA. His wife Padmavati was also elected from Kodad in the recent elections.
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy (Nalgonda district)
A five-time MLA from Nalgonda and MP from the Bhuvanagiri Lok Sabha constituency, he was IT minister in late Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy’s Cabinet. In 2018, he lost from Nalgonda to BRS but was elected as MP from Bhuvanagiri. His brother Raj Gopal Reddy has been also elected, from Munugode.
Ponnam Prabhakar (Siddipet district)
Associated with the Congress since his youth, in 2009, Prabhakar was elected as MP from Karimnagar. The working president of TPCC has won from Husnabad this time.
Dansari Anasuya (Mulugu district)
Popularly known as Seethakka, she joined the Janashakti Naxal group when she was 14. In 1997, she quit and became a lawyer. In 2009, she contested for the first time from Mulugu as a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate and won. In 2014, she lost to the BRS’s Azmeera Chandulal. Three years later, she joined the Congress and won the seat in the 2018 polls. She has won for the third time in the recent poll.
C Damodar Raja Narasimha (Sangareddy district)
He was the deputy chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 2011 till the state bifurcation in 2014. A three-time MLA from Andhole, he served as higher education and agriculture minister.
D Sridhar Babu (Peddapalli district)
Five-time MLA from Manthani, he served as the civil supplies minister and held various other portfolios in the undivided Andhra Pradesh government. He won from Manthani in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2018 and 2023. He is one of the senior leaders in the Telangana Congress and an AICC secretary.
Thummala Nageshwara Rao (Khammam district)
Originally a Telugu Desam Party leader, he won for the TDP from Sathupalli in 1985, 1994 and 1999. In 2009, he won from Khammam. In 2014, he lost and later joined the BRS, which made him a member of the Legislative Council, and he joined the Cabinet of K Chandrashekar Rao as minister for roads and buildings.
In 2016, he won a a bypoll in Palai. He has the reputation of working with three chief ministers — N T Rama Rao, N Chandrababu Naidu, and KCR. He quit the BRS ahead of the 2023 elections and, joined the Congress and has won from Khammam, defeating BRS minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar.
Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy (Khammam district)
In 2014, Reddy won the Khammam Lok Sabha seat on the YSRCP ticket but joined the BRS later. The BRS did not nominate him for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls; earlier this year, he was suspended for anti-party activities. He joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in July. He has won from Palair in the Khammam district.
Konda Surekha (Warangal district)
Four-time MLA Surekha, a staunch loyalist of Dr Y S Rajashekar Reddy, served as minister for women’s and children’s welfare in his Cabinet. She resigned after his death in September 2009, and his son, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was not made the chief minister.
She later joined the YSRCP but resigned in 2013. Ahead of the 2014 elections, she joined the BRS and won from Warangal East. She was denied a ticket in 2018, following which she resigned and joined the Congress. She has won on a Congress ticket from Warangal East.
Jupally Krishna Rao (Nagarkurnool district)
The six-time MLA from Kollapur was a minister in the Cabinets of Dr Y S Rajashekar Reddy and N Kiran Kumar Reddy. In 2011, he quit the Congress and joined the TRS. In 2018, he lost to the Congress for the first time since 1999. Ahead of the 2023 elections, he quit the BRS and joined Congress, giving the party a big boost.
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