Amer Ali Khan, Prof Kodandaram appointed as MLCs under governor’s quota

Hyderabad: Names of two candidates: Amer Ali Khan, news editor of the Urdu newspaper The Siasat Daily and Professor Kodanda Rama Reddy, president of Telangana Jana Samithi were approved for the MLC posts under the governor’s quota.

The approval was given by governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, filling two of the five vacant MLC seats in the Telangana Legislative Council on Saturday.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy congratulated them both in his office.

The names for MLC nominations were sent by the Congress government in December 2023. It may be noted that the governor had earlier rejected Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana nominations, suggested by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, citing political affiliations to the candidates.

The term of the two members D. Rajeshwar Rao and Farooq Hussain, nominated by the Governor to the Telangana Legislative Council has expired on May 27, 2023. These seats have to be filled up by nomination by the Governor. As per sections 156 and 157 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Central Act 43 of 1951), the term of the member to be nominated by the Governor will be six years from the date of issue of notification under section 74 of the said Act.

Congress candidates for election under MLA quota

Congress has named its working president Mahesh Goud and state NSUI president Venkat Balmoor as candidates for election to two MLC seats under the MLAs quota.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has scheduled separate elections for the two vacant MLC posts under the MLA quota on January 29. This was necessitated by the resignation of BRS MLCs Kadiyam Srihari and Padi Kaushik Reddy after they were elected to the State Assembly in the recent elections.

BRS maintains lead

Currently, while the BRS dominates the Telangana Legislative Council with 27 members, with the appointment of Amer Ali Khan and Kodandaram, the Indian National Congress (INC) now has four MLCs, and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has two.

The BJP and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) each have one member, while the other two members are independents.

Prof Kodandaram, president of the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS), was the TJAC chairman during the Telangana agitation, coordinating with all the political parties that were not willing to work under one single political party. Though he did not contest the State Assembly elections in 2023, he supported the Congress party. He retired as a professor of political science from Osmania University in Hyderabad.

KTR slams governor

BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) has slammed Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's decision to consider Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president Prof M Kodandaram for nomination as MLC under the Governor's quota.

He accused the Governor of being biased in handling key decisions and pointed out how the Governor previously rejected nominees : Dasoju Sravan and Satyanarayana for MLC posts.