Senior BRS leader and MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy was sworn in as a minister in Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Cabinet on Thursday. He will be responsible for the Department of Mines and Information and Public Relations. The oath of office was administered by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan.
There was a vacant ministerial berth in the 17-member Cabinet after Health Minister Eatala Rajendar resigned due to political differences with KCR. Finance Minister T Harish Rao has been holding the additional portfolio of the department since then.
The decision to induct a minister just three months before the Assembly elections raised concerns. Mahender Reddy had threatened to quit the party when his political rival and sitting MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy was announced as the candidate for the Tandoor Assembly constituency. He was planning to join the Congress, but KCR offered him a ministerial position in order to prevent any potential losses for the party in the elections. Mahender Reddy has previously served as a minister in KCR’s government.
KCR has assigned Reddy the task of ensuring the party’s victory in Tandur and Vikarabad constituencies.
