Former Indian cricket captain and Congress leader Mohammad Azharuddin's ministerial position remains in limbo as the Telangana Governor is yet to approve his nomination as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). He was nominated along with M. Kodandaram — a retired political science professor and prominent leader of the Telangana statehood movement — under the Governor's quota on August 30, 2025.
Azharuddin was sworn in as the minorities welfare minister on October 31, and his six-month term ends at the end of this month. Under constitutional provisions, he will have to step down if Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla does not approve the nomination by then.
To resolve the issue and expedite the confirmation, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met Governor Shukla on Sunday at Lok Bhavan (Raj Bhavan) in Hyderabad, seeking approval for the two pending nominations.
The CM was accompanied by Legislative Affairs and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu and Rajya Sabha MP Vem Narender Reddy. He urged the Governor to clear the nominations without further delay.
Revanth Reddy had earlier tried to convince the previous Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who was recently transferred to Maharashtra as part of a nationwide gubernatorial reshuffle. THE WEEK learnt that Varma had assured the government he would clear the nominations but did not act on his word, preferring to leave the matter to his successor.
In Telangana, the Governor’s approval for MLCs nominated under the Governor's quota is increasingly becoming problematic. Indeed, the Congress government had first nominated Kodandaram and Amir Ali Khan, news editor of the Urdu daily Siasat, as MLCs in January 2024. Both were sworn in on August 16, 2024, after the Cabinet re-recommended their names.
However, the Supreme Court stayed their appointments on a petition by BRS leaders Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana, whose own nominations — made under the Governor's quota by the previous BRS government — had been rejected by then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. With the stay in place, Congress re-nominated Kodandaram, this time alongside Mohammad Azharuddin.
During the April 19 meeting, Revanth Reddy highlighted Kodandaram's contributions to the Telangana statehood agitation and the constitutional urgency in Azharuddin's case. Sources said the Chief Minister stressed the need for expeditious clearance. The Governor, for his part, enquired about developments in the education sector.
Revanth Reddy had expressed confidence that approval would come in time. As this report was published, the nominations were unapproved. The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president, B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, had also expressed hope that the Governor would act before the April 30 deadline, citing similar clearances by his counterpart in Karnataka.
The meeting is the latest in a series of efforts by the Congress government to resolve a long-pending constitutional impasse. When contacted, Kodandaram told THE WEEK he was not aware of the recent developments. "I don't know the reasons why our nominations are pending. I hope the Governor will approve them in time," he said.
