hyderabad: DI missed the ticket in 2018, however misplaced in 2023, Congress chief and former cricketer Azharuddin was sworn in as Telangana CM on Friday. Revanth Reddy Cupboard simply earlier than the Jubilee Hills meeting polls on November eleventh.
Azharuddin, or Azhar as he’s extra generally identified, unsuccessfully contested the seat within the 2023 parliamentary elections. He misplaced to Maganthi Gopinath of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), whose dying earlier this yr necessitated a by-poll. The meeting section is situated within the coronary heart of Hyderabad. There are over 100,000 Muslim votersout of a complete of 400,000.
With three cupboard seats mendacity vacant within the state, Azhar’s oath was the one one administered by Governor Jishnu Dev Varma on the Raj Bhawan right here on Friday. He took the oath of workplace within the title of Allah.
by information CM Revanth Reddy, who has Azhar in his cupboard, appears to have tried to kill two birds with one stone by interesting to the predominantly Muslim group of Jubilee Hills. And it’ll deal with criticism that there’s a lack of Muslim faces within the parliamentary cupboard in Telangana, a group that accounts for about 13 per cent of the entire inhabitants.
It’s my honor and honor to be sworn in right now by the Governor of Telangana, Shri Jishnu Dev Verma garu, as a Minister within the Authorities of Telangana.
My heartfelt due to Shri Mallikarjun Kharji Ji, Saint Sonia Gandhi Ji, Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji, Saint Priyanka Gandhi Ji, and… pic.twitter.com/xXPNnlLbbG
— Mohamed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) October 31, 2025
The 62-year-old, whose glittering profession as a cricketer was minimize brief by a match-fixing scandal in 2000, joined parliament simply earlier than the 2009 basic election.
Azhar In 2009, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) as a parliamentary candidate, however in 2014 he additionally contested the Tonk Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) seat within the Lok Sabha elections however misplaced. He was denied entry into Congress in 2018 and was as an alternative appointed by the incumbent president. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
He then ventured out from Jubilee Hills for the November 2023 meeting polls. After taking an early lead, Azhar misplaced to BRS’s Gopinath by a margin of over 16,337 votes.
When the seat fell vacant after Maganti’s dying in June this yr, Azhar had hoped to leap again into the fray, this time with assist from the ruling Congress. Nevertheless, the social gathering selected to area Naveen Yadav as an alternative.
Yadav was AIMIM’s candidate in Jubilee Hills in 2014 and is seen as near social gathering chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Owaisi, a member of parliament from Hyderabad, helps Yadav however has chosen not to participate within the by-poll this time. As for Azhar, his acceptance of Yadav and his unwavering loyalty to the Congress earned him a cupboard seat.
Additionally learn: Two completely different songs: Owaisi’s AIMIM sits in Jubilee Hills however contests Congress, RJD in Bihar
Is Azhar’s appointment a “last-ditch transfer”?
Two months in the past, the Telangana Cupboard chaired by CM Revanth Reddy had accepted Azharuddin’s title together with Telangana Jana Samithi president Prof M Kodandaram for nomination to the State Legislative Council below the governor’s quota.
The file is reportedly pending within the Raj Bhawan, with officers mentioned to be contemplating the deserves and authorized implications of authorized disputes associated to earlier such appointments.
Not solely Azhar House has additionally been reserved in Telangana Meeting. For his son, former cricketer Asaduddin. Asaduddin is certainly one of them. 69 basic secretaries had been appointed to the Telangana Congress by the social gathering management in June.
In the meantime, Father Azharuddin’s tenure because the president of the Hyderabad Cricket Affiliation was not with out controversy. Accused of misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 20 million earmarked for procurement of diesel turbines, hearth extinguishing techniques, canopies and so on. on the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal right here, Azhar and different HCA officers had been wished in October 2023, when he was getting ready for the meeting polls.
Azharuddin referred to as the accusations “all false and motivated” and referred to as the incident “a stunt pulled by my rivals to destroy my repute.” Mr. Azhar additionally reportedly confronted Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons in reference to the identical case.
In the meantime, Bharatiya Janata Social gathering leaders, together with state unit election fee affairs chairperson Mali Shashidhar Reddy, wrote to the ballot fee on Thursday, asking it to halt the cupboard enhance “because it violates the mannequin code of conduct”. In the course of the Jubilee Hills election marketing campaign, the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering additionally expressed issues that Azhar’s appointment was a political transfer, aimed toward currying assist amongst Muslim voters within the constituency.
BRS sitting president and former minister KT Rama Rao, in his X speech on Thursday, termed Azhar’s entry into the cupboard as a “determined” transfer. “After two years in energy, the Congress social gathering appears to have lastly woken as much as the truth on the bottom. Promising movie staff the moon, having Azharuddin within the cupboard, the ministers are operating like hell within the Hyderabad Valley like by no means earlier than,” he wrote, referring to the Jubilee Hills polls.
In the meantime, Congress leaders, together with Deputy CM Mal Bhatti Vikramarka, accused the opposition events of conspiring to stop Azhar from assuming workplace. Vikramarka referred to as Azhar “an eminent sportsperson whose globally acknowledged achievements have introduced immense satisfaction to India” and mentioned: “Regardless of his immense contribution to the nation, the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering tried to dam Azhar’s entry into the cupboard purely out of social prejudice.”
(Edited by Amrutanshu Arora)
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