Hyderabad, Oct 31 : Senior Congress MLA and former minister P. Sudarshan Reddy was appointed as the advisor to the Telangana government with the rank of a Cabinet minister on Friday.

Another Congress MLA, K. Prem Sagar Rao, has been appointed as chairman of Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation. He, too, will have the status of Cabinet rank.

The appointments were made around the time when former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin was sworn in as a minister.

The appointments were seen as a move by the Congress government to pacify the senior leaders who were aspiring for Cabinet berths.

Sudarshan Reddy, who had served as minister in united Andhra Pradesh, has been appointed as advisor to the government (implementation of all flagship welfare and developmental schemes) with the rank and status of a Cabinet minister.

According to the Government Order, he will review the implementation of all flagship welfare and developmental schemes with district Collectors/Secretaries of departments and other officers concerned.

The pay, requisite and supporting staff to the advisor shall be as admissible to a Cabinet Minister. He shall be provided with residential accommodation on par with a Cabinet minister, besides the minister's chambers in the Secretariat.

He will be a special invitee to all Cabinet meetings. A special chief secretary/principal secretary/secretary rank officer will head the flagship welfare and developmental schemes unit and will provide secretariat assistance to the advisor. The unit will apprise the Cabinet from time to time in the implementation of all flagship welfare and developmental schemes.

Sudarshan Reddy and Prem Sagar Rao, along with two other MLAs, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy and Malreddy Ranga Reddy, were unhappy over being ignored in the previous Cabinet expansion in June 2025.

The expansion on Friday was undertaken to accommodate only Azharuddin, who is not a member of the Assembly or Council.

In August, the State Cabinet decided to nominate Azharuddin as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) under the Governor's quota.

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.

With Azharuddin's swearing-in, the Cabinet's strength has gone up to 16.

Two berths are still vacant as the Cabinet can have a maximum of 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister.

/IANS