Kavitha Reportedly Tipped For Cabinet Position

The rumour mill is abuzz that the newly-elected MLC of the ruling TRS K Kavitha is likely to be inducted into her father and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's cabinet.

TRS MLAs Beegala Ganesh Gupta and Shakeel Ahmed have already said that Kavitha would be inducted into the state cabinet.

Kavitha, whose political stock has been down after she lost the election for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency last year, won the MLC by-election by a thumping 728 votes, with her Congress and BJP competitors even losing their deposits. That gives her enough weight now to be considered for a cabinet position, especially with the CM being her own father.

It was not all Kavitha, of course. Given who she is and how damaging it would be for her and her father if she lost another election, the TRS took up the by-election as a prestige issue. State minister B Prashant Reddy, who hails from the Nizamabad district, and all the party MLAs from the district worked hard to ensure Kavitha's victory ever since the election notification was released. As part of this, the TRS launched an Operation Akarsh and sucked in several opposition leaders into its fold to ensure the defeat of the rival parties.

Only 15% of the Assembly strength can however be the strength of the cabinet as per the Indian constitution, and it will be interesting to see how Kavitha will be accommodated in the cabinet which is already full with 17 ministers excluding the CM. If the CM wants to induct Kavitha into the cabinet, he will need to remove one of his cabinet colleagues. There are also rumours therefore that Kavitha may also be given a post with a cabinet rank.

It has also been discussed for a while now just why the TRS fielded Kavitha for the constituency when the term left is only 15 months.