HYDERABAD: Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced the candidature of K Naveen Kumar for the ensuing bypolls to the Legislative Council under the MLAs’ quota. Naveen Kumar will file his nomination papers on Tuesday, the last day to do so. Going by the strength of the TRS in the Assembly, the party is likely to win the seat unanimously. If necessary, the election will be held on June 7. The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of MLC Mynampally Hanmanth Rao, who was elected as an MLA.
Naveen Kumar was a close aide of Chandrasekhar Rao and worked under him to make arrangements for the TDP Mahanadu in 1996. From 2001, Kumar was actively associated with Rao in the separate-Telangana movement. He also played a key role in the core committee, formed under the leadership of TRS working president KT Rama Rao, in the GHMC elections in 2018.
Naveen requested KCR and KTR for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha ticket, but the party could not accommodate him due to other political equations. Thus, it gave him an opportunity to contest in the Council polls under the MLA quota. As it is a bypoll, the tenure of the elected candidate would expire on March 29, 2023.
Close aide of KCR
Naveen Kumar is said to be TRS chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s close aide. Kumar worked under Rao while they were still in the Telugu Desam Party in 1996, Going by the strength of the party in the Assembly, Kumar is likely to win the byelection unanimously. He will be replacing Mynampally Hanumanth Rao, who resigned from the Council after being elected MLA from Malkajgiri constituency