Senior Telugu Desam leader Kodela Siva Prasada Rao is expected to be declared unopposed on Friday as the first Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly post-bifurcation as his was the sole nomination to be filed on Thursday.
Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy agreed to support Dr. Siva Prasad Rao’s candidature for the Speaker’s post after Legislative Affairs Minister, Y. Ramakrishnudu made a request to this effect.
Dr. Siva Prasada Rao, who hails from Guntur district, has been elected from Narsaraopeta Assembly constituency for five times consecutively from 1983 to 2004. He lost to Congress leader Kasu Krishna Reddy in 2004 and 2009. He won from Sattenapalli constituency in 2014 elections by defeating Ambati Rambabu of YSR Congress by a slender margin of 720 votes.
A seasoned politician, Dr. Rao served in the cabinets of N.T. Rama Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu during Telugu Desam regimes. He was the Home Minister when the sensational abduction of seven IAS officers by Naxalites took place in 1987. Dr. Rao also held the portfolios of Health and Major Irrigation.
He was also Polit Buro member of TDP and a spokesperson of the party.
In all, Mr. Siva Prasada Rao filed 16 sets of nomination papers. Among those who proposed his name for the post of Speaker were Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister N.Chinna Rajappa and a host of TDP leaders.
Meanwhile, former minister and TDP legislator Gollapalli Surya Rao is tipped to be the Deputy Speaker and TDP Rayadurg MLA K.Srinivasulu is likely to be named the Chief Whip.
