Path clear for Rao to become TOA president

K RANGA Rao emerged favourite to be elected as Telangana Olympic Association (TOA) president after the nominations of Telangana IT and Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and BJP leader AP Jithender Reddy were rejected on Saturday. While Ranjan’s was rejected on technical grounds, Reddy said he did not know why his was annulled. “The rejection was on technical grounds,” said Ranjan. “The badminton association had sent in my nomination.

They were told that to be able to contest for the president’s post, one had to be a member of the executive committee of the badminton association.” Ranjan is a co-opted member of the association as of now. He said he would be “surely appealing” against the decision. “We will take a decision on the same on Monday,” he added. When Reddy was contacted, he said a decision on the same would be taken later. However, as a result of these rejections of candidature, the path seems to have cleared for former TOA chief Ranga Rao. Justice B Chandra Kumar is the returning officer.

Meanwhile, P Prakash Raju, K Pani Rao and A Someshwar have all filed nominations for the post of treasurer as well as other posts. They have been asked to contest for one post only. “Then only (after withdrawing from others) will their nomination for other post stand valid. Otherwise, (they) stand rejected for both posts,” read the nomination scrutiny document. Other candidates who have filed multiple nominations are K Rama Krishna (for joint-secretary and EC member), S Sreenavas Goud (joint-secy and EC member) and Pavan Kumar (joint-secy and EC member).