A keen contest is on the cards for the post of Telangana Legislative Council Chairman on Wednesday with the TRS and the Congress fielding candidates.
A contest is now inevitable what with TRS nominee, Swamy Goud filing eight sets of nomination papers and Congress MLC Farook Hussain filing five sets for the Chairman’s post. The Legislative Assembly complex here was a beehive of activity, with nominees of the TRS and the Congress and their party men and supporters in attendance.
Around 11 a.m. Mr. Goud, accompanied by senior TRS leaders including Ministers K.T. Rama Rao, Naini Narasimha Reddy, T. Padma Rao and others walked up to the office of the Secretary in the Assembly Complex and filed his nomination. It was an hour and a half later that Mr. Farook Hussain went in a procession of sorts with party leaders and MLAs including Pradesh Congress Committee President Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Leader of Opposition in the Telangana Assembly and senior Telangana Congress leader D. Srinivas and filed his nomination.
Election has turned prestigious with the defection of nine Congress and TDP MLCs to the TRS last week. The developments boosted the strength of TRS from four to 16 but not enough to get its candidate scrape through. The House would meet at 11 am on Wednesday after which election of the Chairman would be taken up.
Congress sources said they had issued a whip to the party MLCs including those who have defected to the TRS. Congress leaders are hopeful that if those, who had switched loyalties defy the whip, they are liable for disqualification. On the other hand TRS Ministers, MLCs met Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao at the camp office and discussed the strategy to be adopted on Wednesday.
