Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was reportedly consulted even as his close aide and supporter Addanki Dayakar was snubbed.
Published Jan 17, 2024 | 6:27 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 17, 2024 | 6:27 PM
From left: Balmoori Venkat and Mahesh Kumar Goud. (Supplied)
Administering a rude jolt to TPCC general secretary Addanki Dayakar, the AICC chose Telangana Congress working president B Mahesh Kumar Goud as one of the two candidates for the by-election to the two berths in the Telangana Legislative Council under MLAs’ quota.
For the second vacancy, the party expectedly finalised National Students Union of India (NSUI) state president Balmoori Venkat Narasing Rao.
In an official press release on Wednesday, 17 January, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal announced the two names a day ahead of the closure of nominations for the elections.
The party high command reportedly consulted Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy before making the official announcement.
The Congress’ Telangana in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi on Tuesday reportedly told Dayakar and Balmoori Venkat to get ready to file nominations as the party high command had cleared their names for the by-election, but no official announcement followed.
Mahesh Kumar Goud, who has been in the race since the beginning, threw his hat in, as a result of which there were three contestants for two berths.
The party delayed the decision till Wednesday evening, before finally announcing Mahesh Kumar Goud over Dayakar.
According to sources, Dayakar would not be exactly left out in the cold. The party might consider him for a suitable government sinecure.
Dayakar had contested from Thungaturthi in the 2014 and 2018 Assembly elections, but lost both times.
Dayakar is a known supporter of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. He stood by Revanth even as the old guard in the Congress rebelled against him when the latter was state president.
Blamoori Venkat Narasing Rao, the state unit chief of NSUI — the Congress’ student arm — is poised to become the youngest MLC as he is just 30 years old.
He lost the recent election to the Assembly from Huzurabad to BRS candidate Padi Kaushik Reddy.
The Congress, according to sources, had taken into consideration factors including the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The party appeared keen on sending a signal to the people that it cared for the SCs as much as it wanted to encourage young blood.
The two seats in the Council fell vacant following the resignation of BRS MLCs Kadiam Srihari and Padi Kaushik Reddy on 9 December, after their election to the Assembly.
There were quite a few aspirants for the two berths, including Patel Ramesh Reddy and former MP Balaram Naik, but they could not make the cut.
The nominations for election to the legislative council under the MLA quota will close on Thursday.
The two Congress candidates will be declared elected unopposed after the deadline expires for the receipt of nominations if there are no other contestants.
The Congress is poised to win both seats in the Council after the Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to hold the elections separately for the two seats.
As the Congress has a majority in the Assembly, it can easily win the two seats. Had the ECI held a single election for both seats, the BRS had a chance to win the second seat.
The BRS, after the ECI said it would conduct elections separately, went to the Telangana High Court but could not get a favourable decision.
Former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, or KTR, had gone on record slamming the BJP for the ECI holding separate elections for the two berths in the Council.
