Congress MLA from Munugode Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who managed to get back into the party at the last moment and get the party ticket to contest the recent assembly elections in Telangana, still feels he is the most powerful leader in the party.
On Thursday, Rajagopal Reddy declared that he was going to be inducted to the state cabinet headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy soon.
He said there would be a Cabinet expansion after the budget session and claimed that the party high command had assured him of a cabinet berth.
What is more, he also gave himself the most important home portfolio and said he would request the high command to make him the home minister of Telangana.
“I am appealing to the party leadership to offer me the home ministry. Only then will the Bharat Rashtra Samithi be under control,” he told media persons on the assembly premises.
He said there was no such rule that he should not be taken into the cabinet, just because his brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is also a cabinet minister.
“Even before joining the Congress party, I was offered the cabinet berth,” he said.
Rajagopal Reddy defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022 after quarrelling with PCC president Revanth Reddy and contested from Munugode in the by-elections in November 2022. But after he lost the election, he kept himself away from the party and finally joined the Congress just before the elections.
On the possibilities of fielding his family members either from Nalgonda or Bhongir Lok Sabha constituencies, he said: “We are thinking not to field any of our family members. But if the party high command directs us, then we will consider,” Rajgopal Reddy said, adding that whoever was offered a ticket, all efforts would be made to ensure the party’s victory.