Hyderabad: Race for MLC seats hots up

Hyderabad: Lobbying for berths in the Legislative Council is fast gaining momentum as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to finalise the names of candidates for the three seats under Governor's quota in August.

While two seats are already vacant, including that of S Ramulu Naik, who was disqualified after he defected to the Congress before 2018 Assembly elections, senior leader Naini Narasimha Reddy's term ended in the month of June and the third seat of Karne Prabhakar will be getting vacant in August.

Karne Prabhakar, sources say, is sure to get a second term. Prabhakar, it may be mentioned here, is government whip in council and hence the party leaders believe that he would be getting another term. Former Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy, who was denied ticket during the Assembly elections, is also expecting another term. As far as the third seat is concerned, it is said that party general secretary Baswaraj Saraiah from Warangal is in the race.

Some of the former Lok Sabha members are also said to be in the race for the council seat. Former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Mahabubabad MP A Sitaram Naik and party's women's wing head G Sudha Rani, Deshapati Srinivas and former TNGO leader G Devi Prasad are among the aspirants.

Interestingly, the name of S Vani Devi, daughter of former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, has also come up for discussion in party circles. Party leaders said that since the government was taking up PV's birth centenary celebrations, the Chief Minister may propose Vani Devi's name, party leaders feel. Sources said that the state Cabinet is likely to send the names to the Governor during the second week of August.