Hyderabad, January 18: With the Union Cabinet reshuffle almost certain now, MPs from the State are hoping to make the cut this time.
As of now, there is one Cabinet minister from Telangana in S Jaipal Reddy (Chevella) and four ministers of state from Seemandhra, D Puranedeswari, MM Pallam Raju, Panabaka Lakhsmi and Sai Pratap.
The MPs are hopeful of at least one Cabinet and a couple of ministers of State positions.
With the Jagan and Telangana issues rocking the Congress boat, there might not be any omissions as such, but only inclusions.
From Telangana, the “eligible” MP is invariably Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao.
He is not only a BC but also the most trusted lieutenant of the party. CWC member K Keshava Rao has made his presence felt in the last couple of months.
His Telangana rhetoric and the leadership he had shown during the recent two-day hunger strike by the T MPs seeking withdrawal of cases against students are being perceived as his way of telling the party high command to either “consider” him or face consequences.
As Jaipal Reddy is already a minister with Cabinet rank, the party at the most might offer Keshava Rao an MoS or if he does not like it, let him be content with CWC membership. There are two other senior MPs – Manda Jagannadham and Gutta Sukhender Reddy – from Telangana but they might not be considered since they happen to be migrants to the Congress from the TDP. In coastal Andhra, the front-runner is Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao.
The MP is very confident of making it to the Cabinet this time. He has been very unhappy with the party for not “remembering” him at the time of Cabinet formation.
In the event of the party rewarding him, it would have to take a decision on Purandeswari since both of them belong to the same caste.
But under UPA -I, there were two ministers from the same caste – Renuka Chowdary and Purandeswari and as there is a precedent, the party might accommodate both of them or ask Purandeswari to take up some position in the party.
–Agencies