Naini Narsimha Reddy eyes second term as race for MLC seats starts in TRS

HYDERABAD: Naini Narsimha Reddy, the first home minister of Telangana, will complete his six-year term as member of the state Legislative Council on June 19. Though he is seeking another term, it is not sure whether he will find favour with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has promised many leaders a MLC seat after denying them tickets for the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The race for a berth to the upper house is getting hotter as three MLC seats under the governor quota are up for grabs. The three vacancies are due to the completion of terms of former MLC Ramulu Naik (March), Narsimha Reddy (June) and Karne Prabhakar (August).
Naik was suspended from TRS in October 2018 itself and disqualified as MLC after which he had gone to the Supreme Court. He later joined Congress.
Over a dozen in fray for 3 seats under governor quota
Interestingly, Narsimha Reddy, who is one of the founding members of the party, had failed to make it to KCR’s cabinet in the second term and was replaced by Mahmood Ali as home minister. He had also raised his voice against the party leadership when his son-in-law was denied ticket from Musheerabad Assembly constituency in the 2018 Assembly polls.
“I am confident that KCR will give me a second term. I have been with him since the formation of TRS and through the statehood agitation to till date. I deserve to be nominated as MLC again under the governor quota. I will soon meet him and make a request,” he told TOI.
Though Prabhakar too is a KCR loyalist and speculation is that he might be given another term, the hectic lobbying by the aspirants could change the equation.
Over a dozen TRS candidates are in fray for the three MLC seats under the governor’s quota. The cabinet will forward the names of candidates to governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who in turn will send it to the Election Commission for approval. The CM is likely to take a decision soon.
In addition to the three MLC seats under the governor’s quota, former Nizamabad MP K Kavitha has already filed her nomination from the Nizamabad local authorities constituency MLC election. The EC has kept the election on hold due to the pandemic.