Former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin likely to be inducted into Telangana Cabinet

In a politically charged move ahead of the Jubilee Hills bypoll, the Congress government in Telangana is reportedly set to induct former cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin into the State Cabinet, despite his lack of legislative membership. The decision, proposed by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and cleared by the party high command, aims to appeal to Muslim voters amid BRS's growing strength.

Hyderabad: In a desperate bid to tilt the scales in the Jubilee Hills bypoll, the Congress government has reportedly decided to induct former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin into the State Cabinet, even though he is not a member of either the Assembly or the Legislative Council. He is expected to take oath as a Minister at the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Friday.

While official confirmation from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) or the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) is awaited, sources indicated that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy proposed Azharuddin’s name, which was swiftly approved by the party high command.

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The Congress leaders believe the move will counter the BRS campaign pointing to the absence of Muslim representation in both the Legislature and the Cabinet, which so far has been a first in Telangana’s political history.

The decision is being widely viewed as an overt attempt to woo the 1.3 lakh-strong Muslim electorate in Jubilee Hills, where the bypoll has turned into a referendum on the Revanth Reddy government’s credibility.

With the BRS steadily gaining momentum and support swelling around Maganti Sunitha Gopinath, widow of three-time MLA, the late Maganti Gopinath, the Congress appears to be relying on token optics rather than ground connection.

Azharuddin’s induction is aimed at projecting minority representation and reviving Congress’s pre-Telangana connection with the Muslim community in Jubilee Hills, which has remained a BRS stronghold for the last several years. Ironically, Azharuddin had lost the same Jubilee Hills seat in 2023 by over 16,000 votes and has remained politically inactive since.

He sought to contest in Jubilee Hills byelection again, but was recently nominated to the State Legislative Council along with Telangana Jana Samithi chief Prof M Kodandaram. While Governor Jishnu Dev Varma is yet to clear the file, the party sources said if it is rejected, Azharuddin will be nominated again for the Council in the two-three seats expected to fall vacant under other quotas by March next year.

Insiders admitted that the gamble carries significant risk, with several Congress leaders terming it appeasement politics that may alienate Reddy and BC voters. Senior Muslim leaders within the party are also said to be unhappy over being overlooked. However, others pointed out that nothing is certain until it is done under the Revanth Reddy regime.

Political observers do not rule out the Azharuddin gamble ending up as another political self-goal that will only expose the Congress’s growing panic rather than its confidence in winning the byelection.

Meanwhile, how the AIMIM will react to the news of Azharuddin becoming a Minister remains to be seen. It is an open secret that it was at the behest of the AIMIM that Azharuddin was not given a ticket for the Jubilee Hills bypoll, where he had contested in the 2023 Assembly elections. The Congress had removed him from the list of probables, brought Naveen Yadav in and nominated Azhar as an MLC, replacing Siasat Editor Amer Ali.

While it is known that the MIM did not want Azharuddin to become an MLA, the Congress move to go a step ahead, make him a Minister by getting him into the Legislative Council, either in the Governor’s quota or when vacancies come up early next year, could create fissures between the two ‘friendly’ parties.

Whether the MIM will swallow its political ego and continue to support the Congress and Naveen Yadav, who earlier contested Assembly polls wearing MIM colours, will be known when the ballot boxes are opened on November 14.