Telangana Cabinet strikes balance with MLC posts

Hyderabad: Telangana State Cabinet has finalised the names for three MLCs posts under Governor quota from Dalit, Washermen and Arya Vysya communities. Noted poet and Telangana folk singer Goreti Venkanna, TRS leader and national Washermen Association president Basavaraju Saraiah and State Arya Vysya Sangham leader B Dayanand have been selected as the members of the State Legislative Council. The list of aspirants for the nominated posts was pretty big and included TRS senior leaders, including former minister K Srihari, Tummala Nageswar Rao and other senior leaders like Ponguleti Srinavas Reddy from Khammam.

The three MLCs posts fell vacant as the term of the TRS MLCs Ramulu Naik, Naini Narasimha Reddy and K Prabhakar ended recently. The newly nominated legislators will take oath in two or three days. Goreti Venkanna, who hails from old Mahbubnagar district, had played a key role in the promotion of Telangana culture during the struggle for separate Telangana state through his folk songs. He received several awards, including the prestigious Kabir Samman national award from Madhya Pradesh government, and Kaloji award, Ugadi Puraskaram and Arun Sagar award from the Telangana Government. TRS leader Saraiah was a three-time MLA from Warangal and also the minister in the Congress government in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

He joined TRS after the formation of Telangana state. Dayanand was the TDP leader before joining the Telangana party in 2014. He was active in social service from the Arya Vysya community in Hyderabad.

The government has sent their names to Governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan for her approval. They are likely to take oath next week.