CM Chandrasekhar Rao tells aides to lobby with PMO for MLC elections

Hyderabad: With the Budget Session of Parliament resuming on Monday, TRS MPs and the Special Representative have been instructed to secure clearance for the file regarding Legislative Council elections, that is in the Prime Minister's Office.

There is uncertainty over how the Centre will decide on the matter. The Centre could merely give clarity to the Election Commission on the number of MLC seats to be filled up in the Assembly quota, and delimitation of three additional MLC constituencies as required due to the creation of the Telangana Legislative Council. Alternatively, the Centre could decide that Parliament will have to amend the AP Reorganisation Act for the purpose.

The file pertaining to these modifications has been pending the approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr A.P. Jitender Reddy, leader for TRS MPs in Lok Sabha, told this newspaper on Sunday evening that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had instructed both MPs and officials in Delhi to ensure that the file is cleared to pave the way for holding MLC elections in the state.

According to Mr Ramachandru Tejawat, Telangana state government special representative in Delhi, if the file only gives clarifications, it will go from the Prime Minister's Office to the President and then to the Election Commission.

“We will work to ensure the file gets clearance and elections are held at the earliest,” Mr Tejawat told Deccan Chronicle.

As reported earlier in these columns, several aspirants including two ministers — Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Tummala Nageswara Rao — are tense over the undue delay in holding MLC polls for the pending seats.