Former cricketer Azharuddin joins Telangana cabinet as minister

Former Indian cricket captain and Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin on Friday took oath as a minister in the Telangana Cabinet. Governor Jishnu Dev Varma administered the oath of office and secrecy to Azharuddin at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Azharuddin took the oath in the name of Allah and at the end of the oath raised slogans of 'Jai Telangana' and 'Jai Hind'. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other ministers, Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, Legislative Council chairman G. Sukhender Reddy, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud attended the swearing-in. Azharuddin's son, Mohammed Asaduddin, who was recently appointed general secretary of TPCC, was also present. The State Cabinet in August decided to nominate Azharuddin as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) under the Governor's quota.

Azharuddin is likely to be allotted the portfolio of minority welfare. A former MP, Azharuddin, is currently the working president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and a member of its Political Affairs Committee. The 62-year-old has been inducted into the Cabinet ahead of the November 11 bye-election to the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency. The former cricketer, who had unsuccessfully contested from his home constituency in 2023, was keen to contest again but the Congress leadership decided to field Naveen Yadav and promised a Cabinet berth to Azharuddin. With Azharuddin's swearing-in, the strength of the State Cabinet has gone up to 16. He will be the first Muslim minister in Revanth Reddy’s Cabinet. The ruling party has been at the receiving end of various sections of the community for not having a single Muslim minister ever since it came to power nearly two years ago. All key Muslim candidates of the Congress party, including Azharuddin, faced defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections. Azharuddin's elevation as a minister is seen as the Congress party's move to reach out to Muslims, who constitute about 30 per cent of the electorate in Jubilee Hills. Interestingly, the BJP had urged the Election Commission not to allow Cabinet expansion as Azharuddin is being made a minister to appease a section of voters in the bye-election. The party has termed this a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The Cabinet was formed on December 7, 2023, with the swearing-in of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and 11 ministers. After a long delay, the Cabinet was expanded on June 8, with the induction of three ministers. The Congress leadership, however, kept three posts vacant. The State Cabinet can have a maximum of 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Azharuddin was elected to the Lok Sabha from Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2009, a few months after he joined the Congress party. The Congress had fielded him from Rajasthan's Ton-Sawai Madhopur in 2014, but he lost the election. In 2018, he was appointed as the Working President of the Telangana Congress. He had campaigned for the party in the 2018 Assembly elections, but the party did not field him in either the Assembly or Lok Sabha polls.