The cabinet expansion has created a stir in the Telangana Congress and senior leaders who were frustrated by the expectation of ministerial posts have not yet given up. For the second day, senior Congress leaders, ministers and Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka have entered the fray to appease the disgruntled MLAs.
While Minister Sridhar Babu met Malreddy Ranga Reddy, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka and Minister Ponnam Prabhakar met Premsagar Rao. Along with these, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Bodhan MLA Sudarshan Reddy did not want to meet anyone on Monday. It is learnt that the ministers and senior Congress leaders who tried to appease them were not available.
Sudarshan Reddy, Premsagar Rao, Malreddy Ranga Reddy and Rajagopal Reddy, who were eyeing a place in the cabinet, were shocked by the decision of the high command. Even though Meenakshi Natarajan and Mahesh Kumar Goud tried to appease the disgruntled on the first day, they are not letting go of their grip even though they are trying to convince them that there will definitely be a chance in the pending expansion.
What decision will the disgruntled leaders, who have not been able to swallow the latest developments, take now has become an elusive question. It is being said that Rajagopal Reddy has expressed his grievances to his followers that Vivek, who joined the party before the elections, was given a ministerial post, but he was not given that post, despite joining the party on the condition that he would be given a ministerial post.
It is noteworthy that Malreddy Ranga Reddy is insisting that he will not be satisfied if injustice is done to his district and that a place should be given to people from his district in the cabinet. He questioned why posts are not being given to those who have been working under the party flag for years?
He expressed his concern that if new members of the party are given positions, the credibility of the party leaders and activists will be damaged. In the recent expansion of the state cabinet, Nizamabad and Kamareddy have not been represented in the cabinet. Followers of former minister and Bodhan MLA Sudarshan Reddy have prepared to resign in the constituency.
The leaders have announced that they are still resigning from the party and from several positions. Congress leaders, who were disappointed after MLA Sudarshan Reddy was not given a ministerial post, called for a Bodhan bandh on Tuesday to protest the leadership’s behavior. But they immediately announced that they were withdrawing the bandh.