Congress approves three new Ministers: Vivek, Adluri Laxman, Srihari get berths

Dornakal MLA J Ramchander Naik is to be appointed as Deputy Speaker in the Assembly. The portfolios have not been announced so far.

Hyderabad: Drawing curtains to the speculations over cabinet expansion, the Congress high command has approved berths to three MLAs – Chennur MLA G Vivel Venkat Swamy, Dharmapuri MLA Adluri Laxman and Makthal MLA V Srihari into the cabinet.

Dornakal MLA J Ramchander Naik is to be appointed as Deputy Speaker in the Assembly. The portfolios have not been announced so far.

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While Vivek hails from the Mala community, Adluri Laxman is from the Madiga community. V Srihari is a BC MLA.

The oath taking ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan around 12 noon today. Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who arrived in the city from New Delhi last night, will administer the oath. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and others will be participating in the ceremony.

At present, there are six vacancies in the cabinet. Out of 17 berths, 11 were already filled up, including the Chief Minister’s portfolio. For the remaining six berths, there has been severe competition among the aspirants.

There was strong buzz in Gandhi Bhavan that former Minister Sudarshan Reddy would also be appointed as Minister. This apart, Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy was also in the list of aspirants. There were also rumours that the high command would include actor-turned-politician Vijayashanthi in the cabinet expansion.

Similarly, MLAs from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation region also exerted pressure on the State leadership to appoint one MLA from GHMC limits as Minister. However, the party did not consider their plea as of now.

Meanwhile, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud congratulated the three MLAs, who got ministerial positions and the Dornakal MLA who will be the new Deputy Speaker.