There was intense speculation in TRS circles on who would be the next Speaker as the incumbent S. Madhusudana Chary lost the election.
The radar was focussed on former Deputy Speaker M. Padma Devender Reddy and former agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy but both of them were reluctant to accept the job. In their absence, speculation was that the mantle might fall on former finance minister Eatala Rajender or D.S. Redya Naik.
The name of Mr. Naik, was elected from a tribal constituency in erstwhile Warangal district, cropped up because he was one of the senior-most MLAs. In any case, he was likely to act as the Pro-tem Speaker to swear in the new MLAs.