Hyderabad, Aug 24 (UNI) Barely three months ahead of the Assembly election, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao expanded his cabinet on Thursday with the induction of BRS MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy.
Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Reddy at a simple ceremony held at Durbar Hall in Raj Bhavan here this afternoon.
The lone vacancy in the KCR’s Cabinet was filled with the taking oath of Mr Mahender Reddy.
It was vacant since May 2021 when the Chief Minister had dropped Eatala Rajender from the Cabinet.
KCR, his Cabinet Ministers were present on the occasion.
Mahender Reddy’s induction in the Cabinet is seen as an attempt by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to pacify him after he was dened a party ticket to contest the coming Assembly election from Tandur constituency.
This will be Mahender Reddy’s second stint as a Minister in Telangana. He was a Minister of the first KCR cabinet between 2014 and 2018 and held the Transport portfolio.
Mahender Reddy was elected as an MLA from Tandur in 1994, 1998 and 2009. He joined the BRS before 2014 election and was elected from Tandur. However, he lost the election in 2018 on BRS ticket to Congress nominee Rohit Reddy.
After winning, Rohit Reddy later joined BRS.
Patnam Mahender Reddy was elected as Member of Legislative Council (MLC) in 2019.
Rohit Reddy was named as the BRS candidate from Tandur Constituency for the ensuing Assembly election.
