The Congress Government, in all likelihood, will nominate M. Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as Members of the Legislative Council under Governor’s quota.
Sources said fresh recommendations would be sent before the notification for Parliament polls is out. Their names were sent earlier but the High Court quashed the gazette notification appointing them as members while disposing of the case filed by Dasoju Shravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, nominated by the earlier government but rejected by the Governor.
With the High Court now pushing the ball back into the Governor’s office reminding its limitation that the file cleared by the Council of Ministers can only be referred back and not rejected, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan will most likely send the file to the government seeking a re-look at the nominations.
She had rejected the recommendation of Mr. Shravan and Mr. Satyanaryana on September 19, 2023. Later, they moved the high court questioning the Governor’s authority to reject the nominations sent by the government. Constitutional provisions, according to them, would only allow the Governor to send back the file seeking clarifications but not reject it outright.
As the BRS is now defeated and the Congress is in power, the Governor’s file would reach the Council of Ministers, headed by A. Revanth Reddy of the Congress, and they will have the final say. The Council of Ministers in all likelihood will send a fresh file with the names of Prof. Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan, news editor of Siasat newspaper, according to sources in the government.
Sources said the government had already made its intentions clear while selecting Prof. Kodandaram and Mr. Khan and sending for the Governor’s approval as soon as it came to power. There is no question of any deviation from these names, a senior leader revealed.
The government is also in a hurry and wants to wind up this exercise before the Parliament election notification, which is expected on March 13 or 14. Prof. Kodandaram led the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) during the Telangana agitation bringing all the political parties under one umbrella.
Mr. Amer Ali Khan was preferred to give representation to the Muslim community and expected to be inducted into the Cabinet as well as there is no Muslim face with all Muslim candidates losing the elections.
