After much dilly-dallying Chief Minister Revanth Reddy expanded his Cabinet by including three new Ministers. However festivities and celebrations normally associated with Cabinet expansion were not witnessed, as none of the new Ministers has a popular base. Even outburst of anger, which one normally sees in Congress was also not witnessed, as hopefuls who did not get a berth stayed silent.

While popular leaders like Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, Sudarshan Reddy, Premsagar Rao, Malreddy Ranga Reddy and those from Minorities community like Amer Ali Khan and others, who lobbied hard for Minsterial berth, were denied opportunity, first-time MLAs Vakiti Srihari and Adluri Laxman got a place in Revanth Reddy’s Cabinet.

Senior leader Gaddam Vivek’s name did rounds for Minister post right from the beginning, and his relentless lobbying, ensured that he got a place in the Cabinet.

What’s striking aspect of this expansion is, not even one leader from upper castes got a chance. Even the dominant Reddy Caste which stood by Congress during tough times did not get any representation.

Another important angle is, Muslim Minorities still have no representation in the Telangana Cabinet. That’s surely a thing to ponder, as community is one of the strong support base for Congress. Leaders from the Minorities sections are clearly disappointed, though they are not expressing it openly.

Adluri Laxman hails from Madiga (SC) community, Gaddan Vivek is a Mala (SC) and Vakiti Srihari is a Mudiraj (BC). Congress has been proudly claiming this Cabinet expansion as party’s commitment towards SCs and BCs.

While it is true that Congress scion Rahul Gandhi and CM Revanth Reddy have gone all out to reach out to SCs and BCs with this Cabinet expansion, there is also no doubt that they have clearly neglected their traditional support bases of Reddys and Muslim Minorities. How will this impact Congress prospects in the coming days, with both BJP and BRS trying to weaken Revanth Reddy Sarkar is an interesting watch.