Congress leader and former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin was sworn in as a minister in the Telangana Cabinet on Friday. This came ahead of the bye-elections in the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency on November 11.

The appointment triggered a political row in the state, with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi claiming that it was a move by the ruling Congress to appease minorities ahead of the bye-elections.

The Jubilee Hills constituency has over one lakh Muslim voters, India Today reported.

Azharuddin had unsuccessfully contested the seat in 2023. The bye-election in Jubilee Hills was necessitated by the death of Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLA Maganti Gopinath in June.

On Friday, Governor Jishnu Dev Verma administered the oath of office to the

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