Copyright telanganatoday
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. 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.
