Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin was sworn in as a minister in the Telangana government on Friday at Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad. The oath was administered by Governor Jishnu Dev Varma in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and several cabinet colleagues.
Azharuddin’s induction follows his nomination to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota and comes as part of the state government’s move to expand the Council of Ministers. He becomes the sole Muslim representative in the current cabinet, which now stands at 16 members.
The timing of the appointment is seen as politically significant, coming ahead of the Jubilee Hills by-election, a constituency with a sizeable minority voter base.
Born in Hyderabad on February 8, 1963, Azharuddin studied at All Saints High School and graduated from Nizam College with a B.Com degree. Inspired by his maternal uncle Zainulabuddin, he pursued cricket and made his international debut in 1984, famously scoring centuries in each of his first three Test matches. He captained the Indian team from 1989 and played 99 Tests and 334 ODIs over a 16-year career.
In 2000, Azharuddin was implicated in a match-fixing scandal and received a life ban from the BCCI. The ban was overturned by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2012 on procedural grounds, though it did not exonerate him of wrongdoing.
Transitioning to politics, Azharuddin joined the Congress party in 2009 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, the same year. In 2018, he was appointed Working President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC). His elevation to the cabinet marks a new chapter in his political journey.