As promised soon after coming to power in the last assembly elections, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday finalised the candidature of former IPS officer Mohammad Iqbal for the ensuing elections to the legislative council.
Along with Iqbal, Jagan also finalised the names of minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana from Guntur and former minister from Kurnool Challa Ramakrishna Reddy for the MLC elections to be held under the MLAs’ quota shortly.
Mopidevi, a staunch loyalist of Jagan’s father and former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, lost the recent assembly elections from Repalle constituency in the hands of Telugu Desam Party’s Anagani Satya Prasad by a margin of over 11,000 votes.
Yet, Jagan took him into the cabinet, promising him to make him MLC within six months. Now with the Election Commission announcing the schedule for council elections, Jagan gave him the party nomination.
Similarly, Mohammad Iqbal, who worked as chief security office for Naidu in the past and later held several positions including as SP in the state intelligence, lost the recent elections from Hindupur assembly elections in the hands of senior actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, brother-in-law of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
But Jagan assured that he would be made an MLC and inducted into the state cabinet after two and a half years, when he reshuffles the cabinet.
So is the case with Challa Ramakrishna Reddy, a former Congress leader and ex-minister, from Kurnool district.
He joined the YSR Congress party before the elections. Though he did not get the party ticket, he strived for the victory of the party in the elections in Kurnool and is now getting the reward for his hard work.