Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday met Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan, sparking off speculation about an imminent cabinet expansion.
With the Assembly all set to sit for the Budget session, the chief minister also discussed the Bills which will be introduced in this session.
Unlike the tenure of BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao as chief minister particularly when Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan was the governor, Revanth Reddy’s tenure has been smoother so far when it comes to Raj Bhavan.
The chief minister has recently visited Delhi and met the central leadership, paving the way for the inclusion of a few more ministers in his Cabinet. Since Telangana has 117 MLAs it can have 18 ministers in the Cabinet. Currently, apart from the chief minister there are 11 ministers in the Cabinet, leaving room for a possible Cabinet expansion.
Reddy had met chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi apart from the key ministers in the NDA government to ensure provision for funds for Telangana in the Central Budget.
The chief minister has also been taking up pending issues of the AP Reorganisation Act under which the assets of the unified state are yet to be divided between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There has also been a deadlock over MLC under governor’s quota after the previous incumbent Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan had rejected the names of two BRS leaders forwarded by KCR’s Cabinet.
The duo had moved the court which upheld the government’s recommendation. In the meantime the new Congress government had recommended two other names under the governor’s quota leading to a stalemate.
Telangana High Court today dismissed a writ petition filed by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seeking to stay the proceedings of the Justice L Narasimha Reddy Commission, appointed to probe the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) made by the previous BRS government with Chhattisgarh. The petition was heard by the division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti.
Rao had petitioned that the chairman was biased against him and also that the commission did not have the jurisdiction to adjugate matters related to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. It was countered by advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy who said it was misconceived.