HYDERABAD: Ahead of the crucial Jubilee Hills assembly by-election on November 11, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has approved former India cricketer and Telangana Congress working president Mohammed Azharuddin’s induction into chief minister A Revanth Reddy-led state cabinet. This is being seen as a strategic move given that Muslims comprise nearly 25% of the 3.98 lakh voters in Jubilee Hills.Sources told TOI Azharuddin will be sworn in as a minister at 12.15 pm on Friday. He will be the lone minister from the minority community. There are three vacancies in the cabinet and one of them is being filled up now.However, Azharuddin must become a member of the legislative council (MLC) or MLA within six months from the swearing-in. If not he would lose his ministry. He had contested and lost the assembly election from Jubilee Hills in Dec 2023.The Congress govt has recommended his name for an MLC seat under the governor’s quota which is pending with the Raj Bhavan. Sources said governor Jishu Dev Varma has not approved Azharuddin’s and Telangana Jana Samiti president Kondandaram’s names because of a case pending in the Supreme Court.The top court had in Aug stayed the appointments of Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan under the governor’s quota on a petition filed by BRS leaders Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana. The petition alleged that the appointments violated previous interim orders of the court. The case was posted for next hearing in Nov. Subsequently, the Congress govt had sent Azharuddin’s name replacing Khan.Sources told TOI that AICC approved Azharuddin’s name after repeated survey reports from Jubilee Hills revealed that the Muslims were unhappy over the Congress govt not having a minister from the community, when all the previous govts, including those in undivided AP, had at least one Muslim minister. Also, there was no one from Greater Hyderabad in the cabinet, a hole that the former India cricket captain will fill.“It also goes well with the secular image of the Congress and party leaders will tell the voters in the Bihar assembly election campaign too that social justice has been done in Telangana,” a senior AICC leader said.Though there were doubts about whether a cabinet expansion could be taken up when the by-election model code was in force, officials said there were no issues. “As per the Election Commission rules, expanding a cabinet is a constitutional obligation and does not fall under the purview of ad-hoc appointments or policy decisions intended to influence voters. A cabinet expansion is considered a necessary and legitimate function of the government, not an electoral freebie,” an official said.Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday held a meeting with Muslim religious scholars, state heads of Jamat E Islami, Ahle Hadees, Tableeqi Jamaat and other associations and assured them that the Congress govt would attend to every demand placed by them for the welfare of the community. Subsequently, they extended support to the Congress in Jubilee Hills. Congress leaders Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Mohammed Azharuddin, Faheem Qureshi and minister G Vivek, and AIMIM MLA Kausar Mohiuddin attended the meeting.
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