At last, former Osmania University professor and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president M Kodandaram has become a member of the state legislative council, his long-cherished dream of entering the state legislature.
On Friday, Kodandaram, along with senior journalist and editor of Siasat Urdu daily Amer Ali Khan, took oath as MLC under Governor's quota in the chambers of Telangana Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy.
State ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy attended the oath taking ceremony. The two members were first nominated in January. However, the Telangana High Court deferred their swearing-in.
The direction from the court came following a petition filed by BRS leaders Dasoju Shravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, challenging the nomination of Professor Kodandaram and Amir Ali Khan under the Governor's quota.
In March, the court quashed the Governor’s order from September, 2023, which had rejected the nomination of Dasoju Sravan Kumar and K. Satyanarayana to the Legislative Council. It also quashed the recent nomination of M Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under the Governor’s quota.
But following a recent Supreme Court order, which stayed the high court orders, decks were cleared for the appointment of Kodandaram and Khan as the MLCs, as recommended by the state cabinet early this month.
Now that Kodandaram has become an MLC, there is a talk within the political circles that he will be soon inducted into the state cabinet by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, as promised before the last elections.
The chief minister, who is presently in New Delhi, will seek the approval from the high command for the cabinet expansion. It is expected that he would recommend the name of Kodandaram for the cabinet berth.
Kodandaram, however, refused to speculate on his induction in the state cabinet. He said he was more focussed on fulfilling his responsibility as an MLC and finding a solution to the people’s problems.
“I shall try my best to resolve the issues of the pre-bifurcation days,” he said.
Kodandaram said he had not brought any pressure on the Congress to give him the MLC seat.
“In the same way, I shall not ask for any posts or positions. I cannot comment on speculations,” he said.