Having left one Telangana legislative Council seat from the local bodies constituency in Hyderabad to his ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday announced the names of three candidates of Telangana Rashtra Samiti for the Council from the MlAs’ quota .
The MIM candidate, a veteran journalist Aminul Hasan Jafri has been declared elected unanimously as no other candidate filed nomination papers for the seat.
It is his third consecutive term in the Upper House of the State legislature.
The three candidates of TRS from the MlAs’ quota include A Krishna Reddy, Gangadhar Goud and M Hanumantha Rao. While Krishna Reddy was among the founder members of the TRS and was a close confidante of KCR, the other two were in Telugu Desam earlier.
Monday is the last date for filing of nomination papers for the three seats and March 10 will be the last date for withdrawing the same. If necessary votes will be polled on March 17.
At the same time the Chief Minister also announced two names from the Governor’s quota for the legislative council. They are D Rajeshwara Rao and Farooq Hussain.
Farooq Hussain was earlier in Congress and joined the TRS after the bifurcation of the state. He hails from Medak, the home district of the Chief Minister.
KCR also in the process of filling the nominated posts in various Government bodies including corporations. He recently named five Muslims as head of different bodies. Party sources say that all the vacant posts were likely to be filled by the end of May.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh Nara lokesh, son of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will also file his nomination on Monday for a legislative Council seat from MlAs’ quota.
He will file the nomination papers before returning office in Vijayawada at 10.39 am along with two other TDP candidates. The Opposition YSR CP candidates will also file their nominations on Monday.
For Nara lokesh, the general secretary of ruling Telugu Desam, this will be his first tryst with elections. After his election to the Upper House, which will be a mere formality, he will be inducted into the State Cabinet by his father.