HYDERABAD: Deviating from the tradition of appointing former IAS or IPS officers as government advisors, the state government on Sunday named senior Congress leaders Vem Narender Reddy and Mohammed Ali Shabbir as advisor to the Chief Minister on public affairs and advisor to the government on SC,ST, BC & minority welfare respectively. It also named Harkara Venugopal as advisor to the state government on Protocol and Public Relations.
Another senior leader Mallu Ravi has been appointed as the special representative of the state government in New Delhi. All four leaders, who are very close to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, have been appointed in the rank and status of Minister of State in the state.
Even though the CM is currently on a foreign tour, the GOs to this effect were issued on Saturday and the news was made public on Sunday. Earlier, it was speculated that Shabbir Ali will be inducted into Revanth’s Cabinet.
However, as the Congress has adopted the ‘one leader and one post’ policy, now it is very unlikely that the party will nominate him to the Council or accommodate him in the Cabinet. Mallu Ravi’s appointment as the special representative of the state government has more or less ended his hopes of contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Nagarkurnool segment. It may be mentioned here that during the BRS regime, retired civil servants were appointed as Advisors to the Chief Minister and the state government.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal congratulated TPCC vice-president Harkara Venugopal on his appointment as an advisor to the state government on Protocol and Public Relations. Venugopal has been serving the party as a member of its protocol committee and now he has been rewarded with a similar post in the government.