Hyderabad, June 8 (UNI) Telangana Governor Vishnu Dev Varma administered the oath of office to the newly appointed ministers—Adluri Laxman Kumar, Vakiti Srihari, and Gaddam Vivek Venkataswamy—at a solemn swearing-in ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
The event was attended by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Legislative Council Chairman Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Legislative Assembly Speaker G Prasad Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, State Ministers, several MPs, MLCs, MLAs, government advisors, corporation chairpersons, and senior officials.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy emphasised the government’s commitment to social justice and inclusiveness by inducting leaders from marginalised communities.
Gaddam Vivek, Adluri Laxman, and Vakiti Srihari represent the SC Mala, SC Madiga, and BC Mudiraj communities, respectively.
With the inclusion of Vivek and Laxman, the number of Dalit ministers in the cabinet has now reached four. Additionally, out of the seven BC MLAs elected from the Congress party, three have now been given cabinet posts, including Ponnam Prabhakar, Konda Surekha, and Vakiti Srihari.
Ramachandru Nayak, a first-time MLA from Dornakal, have appointed as the Deputy Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly. Representing the ST Lambada community, Nayak’s appointment reflects the government’s focus on equitable representation.
Vakiti Srihari, currently an MLA from the Maktal constituency in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, began his political career with the Congress party and held various grassroots leadership positions. He served as Maktal village sarpanch from 2001 to 2006 and ZPTC from 2014 to 2018.
He later rose through the ranks to become the district president of the Congress. In the 2023 Assembly elections, he won from Maktal with a majority of 17,525 votes, securing a cabinet berth under the BC quota.
Gaddam Vivek Venkataswamy, son of senior Congress leader G. Venkataswamy, studied at Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, and earned his medical degree from Osmania Medical College.
He was elected as an MP from Peddapalli in 2009 and played a prominent role in the Telangana statehood movement, actively raising the issue in Parliament. Vivek’s political journey saw him move between Congress, BRS, and BJP before returning to the Congress and winning from Chennur in 2023. His son Gaddam Vamsi is currently the Congress MP from Peddapalli.
Adluri Laxman Kumar, currently representing the Dharmapuri constituency, has been associated with the Congress since his student days. He served in various capacities in NSUI and Youth Congress, including as General Secretary at the state level.
Though he faced several electoral defeats, including in 1999, 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2018, he remained active in public life and party organisation.
In 2023, he won from Dharmapuri with a majority of 22,039 votes over former minister Koppula Eshwar and was later appointed as the Government Whip. He has now been inducted into the state cabinet for the first time.
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