KCR clears three names for MLA quota MLC polls

HYDERABAD: The candidatures of Deshapathi Srinivas, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister, incumbent MLC K Naveen Kumar and former MLA Challa Venkatrami Reddy have been cleared for MLC polls under MLAs quota.

BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao cleared these names for three vacant seats on Tuesday. The three BRS MLCs will file their papers on March 9. The last date for filing of nominations for three seats is March 13. If no other candidate is in fray, the Election Commission will announce the results on March 16, the last date of withdrawal of nominations.

It may be mentioned here that no other party in the Assembly has the required strength to field a candidate. The three BRS candidates are likely to be elected unopposed.Deshapathi Srinivas worked as a teacher and participated in separate Telangana movement. Later, he was appointed as OSD to CM. Though his name has been doing rounds for MLC seat for the last several years, the BRS president finally gave him the opportunity to become an MLC.

Former Alampur MLA Challa Venkatrami Reddy, a grandson of former President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, joined BRS from Congress in December, 2022. With this, the BRS is expected to give a tough fight to the Congress candidate in next Assembly polls. For the third seat, the BRS president decided to renominate K Naveen Kumar for the Legislative Council.

Election for these three seats was necessitated as the term of present MLCs elected under MLAs category — Naveen Kumar, Alimineti Krishna Reddy and Gangadhar Goud Vullolla will ends on March 29.

After announcing the candidates, the BRS president asked the candidates to file  nominations on March 9. Rao also directed State Legislative Affairs Minister Vemula Prasanth Reddy and BRS general secretary Palla Rajeshwar Reddy to make arrangements for filing of nominations by the party candidates.