Barely three months ahead of the Assembly elections, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao expanded his cabinet with the induction of BRS MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy. A four-time MLA from the Tandur constituency and a former Minister in the first Telangana government, Mahender Reddy had earlier expressed confidence that he would contest the 2023 Assembly election from Tandur. However, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) named sitting MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy as its candidate. Mahender Reddy’s induction into the cabinet for just two or three months is being seen as an attempt by CM KCR to pacify him, amid speculation that the MLC was planning to quit BRS and join Congress or BJP. The Telangana Assembly elections are scheduled to be held by December 2023.
Mahender Reddy was sworn in as a minister on Thursday, August 24 by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at the Raj Bhavan. Mahender Reddy’s induction fills the lone vacancy in the KCR cabinet. The position has been vacant since May 2021 when KCR dropped Eatala Rajender from the cabinet over allegations of land grabbing. Eatala went on to join the BJP.
With Mahender Reddy taking the oath, the strength of the cabinet has gone up to 18 including the Chief Minister. He has been allocated the mines and geology, and information and public relations (I&PR) portfolios that were previously with CM KCR, The Times of India reported.
Mahender Reddy has won from the Tandur constituency four times, including in 2014. In 2018 too, he contested on a BRS (then TRS) ticket but lost to Pilot Rohith Reddy, who won on a Congress ticket. A few months later, Rohith joined BRS in 2019, and there has been a cold war between him and Mahender Reddy since then, according to reports.
Rohith Reddy is the main complainant in the BRS MLAs’ poaching case, in which he has alleged that representatives of the BJP tried to lure him and other MLAs to switch parties by offering crores of rupees in bribes in October 2022.
After KCR announced BRS candidates for 115 Assembly seats, Mahender Reddy reportedly called on the CM, who assured him of a cabinet berth. The BRS leadership also reportedly ensured a patch-up between Mahender Reddy and Rohith Reddy. After BRS named Rohith Reddy as its candidate from Tandur for the upcoming Assembly election, he called on Mahender Reddy and took his blessings by touching his feet.
This will be Mahender Reddy’s second stint as a minister in Telangana. He was a member of the first KCR cabinet between 2014 and 2018 when he held the transport portfolio.
Mahender Reddy was with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before joining BRS. He was elected as an MLA from Tandur in 1994, 1998 and 2009 on a TDP ticket. He joined BRS before the 2014 elections and was elected from Tandur. However, he lost the election in 2018 to Congress nominee Rohith Reddy.
In 2019, BRS made him a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). He was re-elected to Council from the local body authorities constituency in 2021.
With IANS inputs