HYDERABAD: Telangana, which goes to polls for its Legislative Assembly towards the end of this year, could well see a second minister in the Union Cabinet, possibly by the end of this month.
Currently, Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad G. Kishan Reddy is serving as Union minister of tourism, culture and development.
A highly placed source said that there were several “vacancies” in the Union Cabinet and there is a likelihood that one of them would be filled by a BJP Parliament member from Telangana.
This makes Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind, Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao, Rajya Sabha member Dr K. Laxman as the likely candidates for such an elevation. Contrary to speculation, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the Karimnagar MP, will not be appointed to the Union Cabinet.
BJP general secretary in-charge of Telangana affairs Tarun Chugh indicated that this will not happen, while addressing party visaraks in the city. Kishan Reddy also ruled out such a possibility at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
The BJP will be busy with the Union Budget for the next three months, and after that it will be the home stretch for the party’s election campaign in the state.
“You can expect that there will be no changes in the state party leadership, or at the national level too in the run up to elections, in Telangana and some other states, and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Unless a drastic need is felt for such a change, it will not happen. At present the party has no plans whatsoever to make such changes,” the source explained.
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