11 MLAs inducted into Telangana Cabinet

The erstwhile Khammam district will have the highest number of three Ministers – Bhatti Vikramarka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy

Hyderabad: A total of 11 Congress MLAs, apart from A Revanth Reddy, were inducted into the new State Cabinet of the Congress government in the first spell. The legislators were sworn in as Ministers, along with Revanth Reddy, on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Congress leadership sent the names of the new Ministers to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. After returning from Delhi on Wednesday night, Revanth Reddy is learnt to have personally called the Ministerial candidates to share the news, including Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who will serve as Deputy Chief Minister.

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The erstwhile Khammam district will have the highest number of three Ministers — Bhatti Vikramarka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy will represent the erstwhile Nalgonda district, while D Anasuya (a.k.a. Seethakka) and Konda Surekha were given the opportunity to become Ministers from the erstwhile Warangal district.

Similarly, D Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar Goud were inducted into the Cabinet from the erstwhile Karimnagar district. C Damodara Raja Narasimha from the erstwhile Medak district and Jupally Krishna Rao from the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district were also sworn in as Ministers.

Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Seethakka and Ponnam Prabhakar are all first-time Ministers, while the remaining Congress leaders served as Ministers earlier in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. Bhatti Vikramarka had earlier served as Deputy Speaker and also Congress Legislative Party leader. Further, the Congress leadership attempted to give due representation to women in the State Cabinet, with Konda Surekha and Seethakka.

In terms of communities, the Cabinet will have four Reddys (Revanth Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy), two OBCs (Ponnam Prabhakar and Konda Surekha), two SCs (Bhatti Vikramarka and Damodara Raja Narasimha), one ST (Seethakka), one Brahmin (Sridhar Babu), one Kamma (Nageswara Rao) and one Velama (Jupally Krishna Rao).