Telangana Rashtra Samithi has announced the name of former minister and Secunderabad MLA T Padma Rao as the candidate for deputy speaker of the state assembly and sought the cooperation of the opposition parties in getting him elected unanimously.
TRS working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday came to the Congress Legislature Party office to meet CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and waited for more than half an hour to meet PCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy.
KTR was accompanied Ministers Talasani Srinivas and Prashanth Reddy to the meeting.
KTR appealed the Congress party to support the candidature of Padma Rao for his unanimous election as deputy speaker.
“As per the assembly traditions, ruling party candidates are elected as speaker and deputy speaker. You extended support for the unanimous election of Pocharam Srinivas Reddy as the Speaker for which we thank you. Please extend support to the deputy speaker election as well,” he requested.
While accepting KTR’s request, Bhatti and Uttam asked KTR whether his party would extend the same cooperation in the election of Congress candidate as an MLC without any contest.
Bhatti sought to know why chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to field a fifth candidate despite the TRS lacking enough strength and knowing that the Congress can easily win one MLC seat.
“Obviously, he is planning to poach some of our MLAs and make them cross-vote. This is highly undemocratic,” the CLP leader said.
Uttam sought to know whether the assembly traditions would apply only to the TRS and not for the Congress.
“It is right for the TRS to field a fifth candidate with a confidence that it can engineer cross voting from the Congress?” he asked.
The TRS falls short of eight MLA votes, even after getting the support of the seven MIM MLAs, to win the fifth MLC seat.
KTR said he would take up the Congress argument on the MLC elections with KCR.