Hyderabad, Oct 29 (IANS) Former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin is likely to be inducted into the Telangana Cabinet.
He is likely to be sworn in as the minister on Friday (October 31), Congress sources said
This comes two months after the State Cabinet nominated him as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) under the Governor’s quota.
The move to nominate him as MLC had baffled all, as Azharuddin had declared himself as the Congress candidate for the by-election to the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency.
However, Azharuddin’s reaction to the Cabinet decision hinted that the party leadership had given him the assurance to elevate him as a minister.
The former MP had stated that he was ‘deeply honoured and humbled’ by the Cabinet’s decision, and while thanking the leadership, he gave an assurance that he ‘remains committed to serving the State with integrity and dedication’.
The Congress party recently announced Naveen Yadav as its candidate for the by-election scheduled on November 11.
Azharuddin’s induction into the Cabinet will finally give representation to the Muslim community.
The ruling party has been at the receiving end from various sections of the community for not having a single Muslim minister ever since it came to power nearly two years ago.
All key Muslim candidates of the Congress party, including Azharuddin, had suffered defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections.
After the defeat in the 2023 elections from his home constituency, Jubilee Hills, he was keen to re-enter the fray after the seat fell vacant following the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
However, the party leadership persuaded him to accept the nomination as MLC with the assurance of a Cabinet berth.
The induction of the 62-year-old is also expected to help the Congress party reach out to Muslims, who constitute about 30 per cent of the electorate in Jubilee Hills.
During the election campaign, the BRS had been targeting the Congress party for what it called ‘deceiving’ the Muslim community and also ‘betraying’ Azharuddin.
The Cabinet was formed on December 7, 2023, with the swearing-in of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and 11 ministers.
After a long delay, the Cabinet was expanded on June 8, 2025, with the induction of three ministers. The Congress leadership, however, kept three posts vacant.
The State Cabinet can have a maximum of 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister.
Azharuddin was elected to the Lok Sabha from Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2009, a few months after he joined the Congress party. The Congress had fielded him from Rajasthan’s Ton-Sawai Madhopur in 2014, but he lost the election.
In 2018, he was appointed as the Working President of the Telangana Congress. He had campaigned for the party in the 2018 Assembly elections, but the party did not field him in either the Assembly or Lok Sabha polls.
Azharuddin, the working president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), was named a member of the Political Affairs Committee of the TPCC in May this year.
–IANS
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