Mohammad Azharuddin to join Telangana Cabinet as Minister
The move comes at a time when campaigning for the byelections to Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency is in full swing
Former Indian skipper and Congress leader Mohammad Azharuddin will be inducted into the Telangana Cabinet as a minister on Friday (October 31). He is expected to take the oath as a minister during the upcoming oath-taking ceremony, said media reports quoting Congress sources.
The development comes at a time when campaigning for the byelections to Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency is in full swing. The by-election to the constituency, which has a large number of Muslim voters, will be held on November 11.
In August this year, following the Supreme Court’s annulment of the earlier nominations of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan, Azharuddin was appointed to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. In the updated list, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy nominated both Kodandaram and Azharuddin.
Minority community votes
The Jubilee Hills Assembly by-election, necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath, has turned out to be prestige issue for the ruling Congress as the party is going all out to win the seat, reported The Hindu.
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The report further states that keeping in mind the large number of Muslim voters in the constituency, the grand old party has chosen to induct Azharuddin to the Cabinet to woo the minority community voters. Intestinally, as of now, Congress does not have any Muslim MLA or Cabinet minister.
With Azharuddin’s induction, the number of minister in the Telangana Cabinet will go up to 16. The total strength of the Cabinet is 18 including the Chief Minister.
Azharuddin’s political career
Azharuddin, a former, Moradabad MP, had contested from the Jubilee Hills in 2023 as a Congress candidate and was defeated by BRS’ Gopinath.
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The cricketer-turned-politician took the political plunge by joining the Congress. Although he contested from the Moradabad in 2009 but later shifted to the Tonk Sawai Madhopur parliamentary constituency in Rajasthan where he lost to BJP nominee in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Azharuddin became the Telangana Pradesh Congress committee president in 2018.
The backdrop
Reddy became Chief Minister on December 7, 2023, following a decisive victory over the Bharat Rashtra Samiti in the Assembly elections.
His first Cabinet was formed the same day. The ministry saw its first expansion in June 2024, with the inclusion of three new Ministers-G. Vivek Venkatswamy, Adluri Laxman Kumar, and Vakati Sridhar. Of these, Venkatswamy and Laxman Kumar are Scheduled Caste legislators, while Sridhar represents the Backward Caste community.