
HYDERABAD: As five members of the Telangana Legislative Council will be retiring in March and August, the task ahead for Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud is clear — choosing the right candidates to fill the slots.
For Mahesh Goud, there is another challenge staring him in the face — reconstitution of the TPCC, which has been hanging fire for quite some time now. He is yet to constitute his team comprising working presidents, senior vice-presidents, campaign committee chairman, AICC implementation committee chairman, and general secretaries, among others.
Sources said that the TPCC’s new committee will be in place only after the expansion of the state Cabinet. The party high command is understood to be keen on expanding the Cabinet first and will then accommodate those who didn’t make the cut in various slots in the TPCC. Those who want to enter the Legislative Council are lobbying with senior ministers and the leaders of the core group in Delhi. They are also bringing pressure on the chief minister and the TPCC chief to help them get the party’s nod.
MLCs Sheri Subhash Reddy, Satyavathi Rathod, Mahmood Ali, Mallesham Yegge and Mirza Riyaz Ul Hassan will retire in March 2025. They were elected to the council under MLAs’ quota. Another MLC, MS Prabhakar Rao, will be retiring in August 2025. He represents the Hyderabad Local Authorities constituency.
Party sources said that sitting MLC Jeevan Reddy is expecting a party nomination for an MLC position under MLAs’ quota. When BRS MLA Sanjay Kumar was admitted into the Congress, the party leadership promised Jeevan that he would be considered for the MLC post under the MLAs’ quota at the appropriate time. On the other hand, party leaders Faheem Qureshi, Jetti Kusum Kumar, Addanki Dayakar, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) B Ayodhya Reddy, Jagadeeswar Rao, Ramulu Naik and younger leaders like Koushik Charan Yadav, TGSAT chairman Shiva Sena Reddy and others are requesting the party high command to allow them to serve as MLCs.
There is also a possibility of one seat, to be vacated by the AIMIM member, going to the Congress as the two have become friendly parties now. Sources also stated a few MLCs such as Yegge Mallesham and MS Prabhakar Rao, who defected from BRS to the ruling Congress, are requesting the grand old party to renominate them to the Council. But the ruling party leaders insist that the tickets should go to “original” Congress leaders and not to turncoats.