Telangana: Race for MLC posts hots up

Hyderabad: With indications that the notification for the six vacant council seats would come in August, TRS leaders have started lobbying for the MLC posts under the MLA quota. The rush for these six seats is high because it is easy to win under the MLA quota as the party has an absolute majority in the Assembly and everyone will have to vote for the party candidate.

It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had assured MLC post to BC communities like Padmashalis, Vishwabrahmins, and Kummari community. 

Some of the aspirants are even claiming that they have succeeded to be in the good books of the party high command and were hopeful of getting the B form.

Under the Padmashalis, the name of TDP leader L Ramana is doing rounds. But Ramana has not yet disclosed his intention of joining TRS. Party sources say that he is likely to switch over to TRS soon. Under the Vishwabrahmins quota, former Speaker of Telangana Assembly S Madhusudhana Chary is said to be the likely candidate. From the Kummari community, the name of T Srinivas is doing rounds. There is competition for the remaining three posts as there are several competitors.

The former Chairman of Legislative Council, Gutha Sukhender Reddy and former deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari are also expecting to get another term. The recent luncheon meeting between KCR and Kadiyam Srihari has further fuelled the rumours. The other names making rounds are BC leaders PL Srinivas, C Krishna Yadav and CM's OSD Deshapati Srinivas. Another strong aspirant for the MLC seat is party leader Koti Reddy who was one of the aspirants for the Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly bypoll which was held recently. It is said that CM had assured him to accommodate him as an MLC. The term of six members of the Legislative Council ended in the month of June. The elections to the vacant seats could not be held due to the second wave of the corona pandemic. Apart from these six seats, one more seat of M Sreenivas Reddy would also fall vacant. Sreenivas Reddy was elected under the Governor's quota.