Leaders wait for their slice of pie

Warangal: Left in the lurch for over four years, the rank and file of the ruling TRS, who have been waiting patiently to savour their slice of the pie in the nominated posts, seemed upbeat about their chances. 

Spurred by the appointment of Nagurla Venkateshwarlu as the chairman of the Farmers Debt Relief Commission a couple of days ago, there is a sudden spurt in political activity among the ruling party leaders.

Although it’s said that there are about 4,000 nominated posts to dispense, but for a few the TRS government chose not to fill them this far. Now with just about a year to go for the completion of the present government’s tenure, Venkateshwarlu’s appointment gave a new lease of life to the hopefuls. Moreover, the speculation is rife that a huge number of nominated posts will be filled soon.

Even though the leaders of the erstwhile district of Warangal apparently got a lion’s share in the nominated posts, there are quite a few senior leaders waiting in the wings for a long time.

While the likes of Banda Prakash, former MP Gundu Sudharani etc., who have joined the party very late, have got plum posts. In contrast, some of the senior leaders including those associated with the party since its inception are yet to get their due.

Apart from Legislative Assembly Speaker’s post held by S Madhusudhana Chary, the other plum posts currently held by the TRS leaders of the district are Deputy Chief Minister (Kadiam Srihari), Minister for Tribal Welfare (Ajmeera Chandulal), Government Whip Bodakunti Venkateshwarlu, State Government Advisor (BV Papa Rao, Retd IAS) and Special Representative in New Delhi (Ramachandra Naik, Retd IAS). The MLCs belonging to Warangal are Konda Muralidhar Rao and Madireddy Srinivas Reddy.

This apart there are as many as 11 out of 39 State-level Corporation chairman posts held by Warangal leaders. Continued from page 1
They are… Prof T Papi Reddy (TSCHE), Gundu Sudha Rani (Women Cooperative Finance), K Vasudeva Reddy (Vikalangula Cooperative), D Mohan Gandhi Naik (Girijan Cooperative), K Rajaiah Yadav (Sheep and Goat Development), Peddi Sudarshan Reddy (Civil Supplies), Marri Yadava Reddy (KUDA), L Kishan Rao (Agros), Yusuf Javeed (Khadi and Village Industries) and B Sampath Kumar (Handicrafts Board). And latest to join them was Nagurla Venkateshwarlu.

On the other hand, the High Court stayed Gudimalla Ravi Kumar’s appointment as the chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights following a petition filed by P Achyuta Rao of Balala Hakkula Sangham. Meanwhile, the hopefuls have begun intense lobbying with their political godfathers. It may be mentioned here that Gudimalla also missed Warangal MP ticket narrowly due to row over his caste.

Apart from him, TRS district president Takkallapalli Ravinder Rao, former minister Basavaraju Saraiah and scores of leaders are waiting for their due. “I have full faith in Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and my services to the party will never go waste,” a senior TRS leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Hans India.