The Telangana government will nominate former Osmania University professor M Kodandaram to the Telangana state legislative council under Governor’s quota, people familiar with the matter said.
Kodandaram’s name is among the four candidates whose names are expected to be finalised by the Congress high command in a day or two. While two of them would be nominated under Governor’s quota, two others under the MLAs’ quota, polling for which would be held on January 29.
The Election Commission of India on Thursday issued two separate notifications for the election to two MLC seats in Telangana under MLAs’ quota. The elections to these two seats were necessitated with the resignation of Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLCs Kadiyam Srihari and Padi Kaushik Reddy after they were elected to the assembly in the recent elections.
The Congress, which recently won the elections to the state assembly, can bag both the seats comfortably without any contest. The last date for filing of nominations is January 18.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and chief minister A Revanth Reddy, who is presently in New Delhi, held discussions with the party on Saturday to get approval for the candidates for the four MLC seats.
Once a protégé of BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao during the days of separate Telangana agitation, heading the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) that spearheaded the movement, Kodandaram differed with the BRS policies subsequently and had been leading the people’s movements even after the formation of Telangana.
{{/usCountry}}Once a protégé of BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao during the days of separate Telangana agitation, heading the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) that spearheaded the movement, Kodandaram differed with the BRS policies subsequently and had been leading the people’s movements even after the formation of Telangana.
{{/usCountry}}In April 2018, Kodandaram floated his own regional political outfit – Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) -- and contested the December 2018 assembly elections in alliance with the Congress, Telugu Desam Party and CPI. But his party failed to make any mark in the elections and has subsequently become defunct. Kodandaram, however, has been fighting for the cause of the people in his individual capacity.
In the recent assembly elections, Kodandaram extended support to the Congress. After the Congress came to power, Revanth Reddy declared that his government would appropriately use the services of Kodandaram. “We shall honour him with the MLC seat and make use of his knowledge for the development of Telangana,” Revanth Reddy said in an interview to a television channel last Sunday.
A PCC leader privy to the development said apart from Kodandaram, the chief minister has suggested two names – that of popular poet Andesri and Federation of Minority Educational Institutions chairman Zafar Javeed – for the second MLC seat under Governor’s quota.
For the remaining two MLC seats, to be elected under MLAs’ quota, several Congress leaders are contenders. Since the Congress doesn’t have any Muslim representation in the assembly, the party might nominate former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, who lost the assembly elections from Nizamabad (urban), for the MLC seat.
For the other seat under the MLAs quota, the names of AICC member S A Sampath Kumar, Madhu Yaskhi Goud, former Minister G Chinna Reddy, Dalit leader Addanki Dayakar, TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud and NSUI state president Balmuri Venkat were discussed in the party.
“The chief minister has presented some of these names to the high command. After taking its approval, the party will announce the names in a day or two,” the party leader quoted above said.