Hyderabad: The Election Commission on Thursday announced the poll schedule to fill up six vacancies from MLAs quota in the Legislative Council of Telangana.
With this announcement, the two non-legislator ministers in K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s Cabinet, R and B minister Tummala Nageswara Rao and Warangal MP and education minister Kadiam Srihari have heaved a sigh of relief. They will now be elected to the Council. In fact the term of seven MLCs came to an end on March 29, 2015.
However, due to discrepancies in the AP Reorganisation Act in respect of showing the strengths of MLCs in different categories, varies.
Recently the President cleared the concerned file and sent it to EC to notify only six vacancies instead of seven and the vacancy caused by K.R. Amos shall now cease to exist.
If at all one goes by the respective strengths in the Assembly, the ruling TRS will bag four, and Congress and TD-BJP combine will bag one each and the election should be unanimous. However due to defections of four MLAs each from TD and Congress, may give some advantage to the ruling party putting up an additional candidate from its side to defeat one of the opposition candidates.
According to sources in TRS, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is being prevailed upon by the two ministers that it would be better for the ruling party to go for unanimous poll instead of forcing a contest.
Sources said the CM has already decided to field ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao, Kadiam Srihari, Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council, Neti Vidyasagara Rao who joined from the Congress and Bodakuti Venkateswarlu who joined from TD.
Sources said in case the CM decides to go for an additional candidate it would be K. Yadava Reddy who joined the TRS from Congress. It is still not known from the Congress who it is going to field for the poll whether it is the old horse who just retired D. Srinivas or one among former PCC Chief Ponnala Laxmaiah, former AP Assembly Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy and former Home Minister Sabita Indrareddy. From Telugu Desam, the just retired Arike Narsa Reddy would be the automatic choice.
