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Caste imbalance in expanded cabinet
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday expanded his Cabinet with the induction of six members, taking the total strength of the Cabinet to 18. The expansion of the Cabinet, which has no woman representation, is the first since the TRS government assumed office on June 2 this year.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday expanded his Cabinet with the induction of six members, taking the total strength of the Cabinet to 18. The expansion of the Cabinet, which has no woman representation, is the first since the TRS government assumed office on June 2 this year.
- With addition of 6 Ministers, Cabinet strength rises to 18
- Six Reddys and four Velamas figure in the Cabinet
- Konda Surekha, Koppula Easwar not present at oath-taking
Though he did an elaborate exercise to strengthen the party in the segments where it is weak, the first expansion of the Telangana cabinet indicates quite an imbalance in the caste composition which has upset many a people in the party. There is a feeling that there is no proportionate representation.
The Cabinet after Tuesday’s expansion is dominated by Reddy community followed by Velamas. There are six Reddys and four Velamas and one each from Mudiraj, Munnurkapu, Goud and Yadava community. Reddys constitute about six per cent of the population. Interestingly while the Velmas constitute less than two per cent of the population, they have 22% representation in the cabinet.
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Though Rao kept his promise of inducting a tribal leader by giving an opportunity to Ajmera Chandulal from Warangal, it has upset another tribal woman legislator Kova Lakshmi who was also in the race. KCR tried to soothe her ruffled feelings by offering her the post of Parliamentary Secretary. KCRs decision not to induct any women in the cabinet had left one of the strong aspirants Konda Surekha sulking.
Konda Surekha and Koppula Easwar, both aspirants for a berth in the cabinet were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing in ceremony thus brining to the fore the rumblings in the party over denial of berths. The rumblings gathered momentum especially after KCR provided berths to defectors from TDP like Tummala Nageswara Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav.
Analysts say that by inducting Tummala as a minister in his cabinet, KCR has played a master-stroke to establish the supremacy of TRS in Khammam district and also to bring Kamma community closer to the party. The Khammam district proved to be the weakest point for the TRS in 2014 general elections.
Out of 10 Assembly segments in the district, the TRS was able to win just one seat of Kothagudem where Jalagam Venkat Rao won the elections by defeating his nearest rival K Satyanarayana of TDP. TRS failed to register its presence in eight other seats of Yellandu, Khammam, Paleru, Madhira, Wyra, Sathupally, Aswaraopeta and Bhadra- chalam. Further, Tummala's entry might also help the party to win over the Kamma community which is a dominant community in Khammam, Warangal, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Hyderabad districts.
Another prize catch for KCR is Srinivas Yadav. His entry into the cabinet will help the party immensely in GHMC elections since Yadavs are a dominant community in GHMC limits. Before taking oath Yadav resigned from the TDP and Assembly.
