Hyderabad: Shakil Ahommad, the lone Muslim TRS MLA from Bobhan in Nizamabad district, a first-timer, has bright prospects of landing a ministerial berth. Will he be made Deputy Chief Minister is the question.
TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao had assured before elections that Telangana will have a Muslim Deputy CM.
While Mr Ahommad is the lone Muslim legislator, the TRS also has a Muslim Legislative Council member in Mohammad Ali, but he is also not senior enough.
Apart from Mr Ahommad, the stars are bright for Jalagam Venkat Rao, the lone TRS legislator from Khammam district. The TRS is in a very weak position in the district, and it is expected that Mr Venkat Rao, who won from Kottagudem, would be given a berth as a part of the party’s attempt to shore up its presence there.
Mr Venkat Rao, son of former CM late Jalagam Vengala Rao, was first elected to the Assembly in 2004 from the Congress. He was expelled in 2009 and later joined the YSRC. He quit the party recently to protest its decision to oppose statehood for Telangana, and joined the TRS.
On the other side, in Seemandhra, the TD has no one Muslim legislator among the 102 seats it won in the region.
In the Legislative Council too, the TD has no Muslim councillor from Seemandhra. TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has to decide whether to give the minorities welfare portfolio to a non-Muslim minister, or nominate a Muslim leader as minister and get him elected to the Council.
The YSRC has two Muslim legislators: Former MLA Jaleel Khan from Vijayawada West and Sheikh Mustapha from Guntur East.
