Six more ministers have been inducted to the Telangana cabinet today. This will take the cabinet strength to 18.Thummala Nageswara Rao and Talasani Srinivasa Yadav (both defected from Telugu Desam Party recently), Jupalli Krishna Rao, Lakshma Reddy, Chandu Lal and Indrakaran Reddy have taken the oath at the Raj Bhavan today.
The inclusion of Khammam leader Tummala into state cabinet has raised several eye brows. Sources said TRS president wants a ‘Kamma’ man from Telangana state to join the council of ministers to keep the community happy as they have a sizeable presence in Khammam, Adilabad and Nizamabad besides the Greater Hyderabad region.
Nageswara Rao, who joined the TRS in August, is a powerful leader in Khammam district, where the TRS is considered weak and has just one legislator.Mainly in a bid to woo the strong Kamma vote-bank in Khammam district, KCR appears to have preferred Tummala Nageswara Rao over his fellow Velama, Jalagam Venkat Rao,
Though Tummala is not a member of either the Legislative Council or the Assembly but had been assured of a Cabinet berth at the timing of joining the ruling party. He will be nominated to the Council soon. In the last Assembly election, Tummala lost Khammam seat to Congress candidate Puvvada Ajay Kumar by a margin of little over 6,000 votes.
