Congress legislators from the Madiga community, a numerically dominant sub-caste among Dalits in Telangana, have urged the high command to consider inducting one of them into the cabinet for better representation. The Revanth Reddy-led government is all set for a cabinet expansion in the coming days with speculation rife that 4-5 new faces could be added to the cabinet while two may be dropped from the existing 12-member team of ministers.
A few days ago, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy with a delegation of senior ministers met Delhi congress leaders including President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Since then, hectic lobbying has been underway from different factions and groups to push forward their candidatures.
The Madiga community comprises 47 lakh voters or 60 per cent of the total Dalit population in the state. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the subcategorisation of Madigas, who have been fighting for decades for a separate quota within the SC category. The importance of the community is growing in the political sphere, too. Six legislators, Adluri Lakshman Kumar, Mandula Samuel, Vemula Veeresham, Kavvampally Satyanarayana, Thota Laxmikanth Rao and Kale Yadaiah have collectively written to the Telangana AICC in-charge, Meenakshi Natarajan underlining the importance of the community to the Congress party.
“In the recent parliamentary elections, the Congress party in Telangana has not given a single seat to the Madiga community in Nagarkurnool, Peddapalli and Warangal constituencies despite the community's high population in those districts. We would like to emphasize that this community has supported the Congress party unconditionally. However, despite our community's loyalty and substantial presence, we feel underrepresented in the current state cabinet. It is with a sense of deep concern and hope for equitable representation that we urge you to consider appointing a minister from the Madiga community to the cabinet,” they wrote in the letter dated March 25.
The Congress is likely to appoint one Dalit minister in the expansion and the prominent name doing the rounds is G. Vivek, an industrialist and owner of a regional news media channel and newspaper. However, he belongs to the Mala sub-caste of the SC community. There is a divided opinion within the party as a section feels that a leader from the Madiga community should get a ministerial berth as the Mala community— though smaller in number— already has a Deputy CM in Bhatti Vikramarka. The speaker, Gaddam Prasad Kumar is also from the Mala community. Among the probables from the Madiga community, Adluri Lakshman Kumar, the government whip, is learnt to be seriously considered by the Congress high command.
