Senior-most Member of the Legislative Council, Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri has been appointed as the Protem Chairman of the Telangana State Legislative Council.
A notification was issued by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday. He replaces protem Speaker Bhupal Reddy, who retired on January 4. Mr. Jafri, a journalist-turned-politician, has been in the Council for the past 12 years. The Council does not have a full-time chairperson since Gutha Sukender Reddy retired in June last year. In his place, V Bhoopal Reddy was appointed as protem chairman.
Mr. Jafri will be the first from the Muslim minority community after Telangana was formed as a separate State. He will also be the first AIMIM functionary to hold the position. The AIMIM has only two MLCs in the Council that has a strength of 40 members.
Mr. Jafri has worked as a journalist before moving into politics when he was elected as the MLC on the AIMIM nomination. He worked as the Chief of the News Bureau of Newstime and Deccan Chronicle apart from reporting with international news agencies like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Reuters. He did his master's degree in Communication and Journalism from Osmania University.