Hyderabad, Jan. 27: Amer Ali Khan, news editor of Urdu daily Siasat, has been nominated as a member of Telangana Legislative Council.
The Congress government had recommended names of academician M. Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan as MLC under Governor’s quota.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has accepted the recommendation of the state government.
Kodandaram heads Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), which had supported the Congress party in the recent Assembly elections.
Amir Ali Khan’s nomination is also seen as a thanksgiving gesture by the Congress party for the newspaper’s support.
The Congress has recommended his nomination in recognition of the social, economic, welfare and educational activities of ‘Siasat’, one of the largest circulated Urdu dailies in India.
Amer Ali Khan has been in the forefront of the movement to demand implementation of 12 percent reservation as promised by the previous BRS government.
The 50-year-old is in-charge of various programmes run by the Urdu newspaper. Having completed his Bachelors in Communication and Journalism from Osmania University and Masters in Business Administration from Sultan–ul-Uloom, he has been instrumental in forming an alliance of 10 Urdu dailies for content. Under his tutelage, Siasat has expanded to Bengaluru and Qatar for the Middle East edition.
Amer Ali Khan is son of Siasat chief editor Zahid Ali Khan, who was earlier associated with the TDP and also contested Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad constituency in 2009.
He is the first Muslim legislator under the Congress government. It may be recalled that none of the Muslim candidates fielded by the Congress in recent Assembly elections was elected. They included former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir and former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin.
Shabbir was last week appointed as government advisor.
