Hyderabad : With speculation over a long-pending cabinet expansion continuing to swirl within Congress circles, TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud on Saturday made it clear that no immediate decision appears to be on the horizon, saying the matter rests entirely with chief minister A Revanth Reddy.
Earlier, addressing a joint news conference along with Congress Working Committee member Koppula Raju and BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Mahesh Goud announced that the Congress would launch a 100-day nationwide agitation and public outreach campaign to pressure the Narendra Modi-led govt to conduct a BC caste census alongside the national population census.
Speaking informally to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan, Mahesh Goud said cabinet expansion did not figure in his recent discussions in New Delhi. It is up to CM Revanth to decide when to expand the cabinet,” he said. On the Surekha episode, he said the party had made sincere efforts to protect the former minister. Highlighting the Congress govt’s initiatives for BCs, Mahesh Goud said Revanth fulfilled Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ’s vision.
“The discussions were limited to the issues concerning Konda Surekha and G Chinna Reddy. The party high command has not communicated anything regarding cabinet expansion. He noted that everyone concerned had done their best, but the AICC did not agree with the position taken regarding Surekha. He maintained that Telangana’s caste survey was conducted in a scientific manner. The leaders demanded that the Centre immediately undertake a nationwide OBC caste census. Raju alleged that despite assurances made by Union home minister Amit Shah in Parliament, the forms issued by the Centre lacked specific columns needed to enumerate OBCs.
Responding to speculation that he could be inducted into the cabinet, Mahesh Goud said he had no information about any such move and dismissed the reports as mere rumours.