Kiran Kumar Reddy has inducted 3 more MLAs into his cabinet. What shocked many was contrary to the earlier communication to media, only 2 MLAs from Telangana region were given ministerships, while the third went to coastal Andhra.
The expansion proved yet again that the Congress high command knows nothing about the ground-level situation in Telangana. The cabinet expansion was apparently a move to buy peace with the Telangana Congress leaders who were active in the movement. But, the two MLAs who got ministries – Uttam Kumar Reddy from Huzurabad and Prasad Kumar from Vikarabad, never played any active role in the Telangana movement. In fact, not many people outside their constituencies know these two MLAs.
One fails to understand how the Congress high command thinks it can contain the Telangana agitation by giving ministries to these two non-entities
Another interesting aspect of the expansion was the continuing regional imbalance.
It was widely reported that this round of expansion was exclusively for the Telangana region. There are 4 vacancies in the Telangana quota due to resignations of Konda Surekha, Jupalli Krishna Rao, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and the sacking of Shankar Rao.
But, continuing its neglect on the Telangana region, Kiran Kumar’s government chose to give ministries only 2 Telangana MLAs.