Hyderabad, Aug 3: The Telangana Cabinet has again recommended academician Prof. M. Kodandaram and Urdu journalist Amer Ali Khan for nomination as Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) under Governor’s quota.
All eyes are on new Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who will take a decision on nominating them.
The Cabinet, at its meeting on August 1, decided to send the names of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan to the Governor for nomination as MLCs.
In March, the Telangana High Court had quashed the gazette notification appointing Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as MLCs while disposing of the case filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, who were nominated as MLCs by the earlier government but rejected by then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
The Cabinet’s decision to recommend re-nomination came just a day after Varma took oath as the new governor.
Varma succeeded C.P. Radhakrishnan, who was holding additional charge of Telangana along with Jharkhand since March.
Radhakrishnan was given additional charge of Telangana and Puducherry after the resignation of Tamilisai Soundararajan to contest the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.
Soundararajan had rejected the recommendation for nomination of Sravan and Satyanarayana as MLCs on September 19, 2023. Later, they moved the high court questioning the Governor’s authority to reject the nominations sent by the government. They argued that Constitutional provisions would only allow the Governor to send back the file, seeking clarifications but not reject it outright.
Following the High Court order, Sravan and Satyanarayana had urged the Governor to nominate them as MLCs. The Governor has not yet taken a decision on their request.
It was in January that the Congress government had nominated Amer Ali Khan, news editor of Urdu daily Siasat and Prof Kodandaram as MLCs under Governor’s quota.
Prof. Kodandaram led the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) during the Telangana agitation, bringing all the political parties under one umbrella.
Kodandaram heads Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), which had supported the Congress party in the Assembly elections held in November 2023.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy preferred Amer Ali Khan to give representation to the Muslim community. The Congress government had 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’s nomination was also seen as a thanksgiving gesture by the Congress party for the newspaper’s support. He 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.
None of the Muslim candidates of the Congress was elected to the Assembly. The list included former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir and former Indian cricket captain and former MP Mohammed Azharuddin.
Since Shabbir was appointed government advisor in January, Amer Ali Khan’s nomination as MLC also led to speculations that he will be inducted in the Cabinet.
Then Governor Soundararajan had accepted the recommendation of the state government but the court struck down their nomination.
It remains to be seen if the new governor will accept re-nomination of Prof Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan or not.
