Hyderabad, March 06: The Congress party Central leadership has cleared the names of incumbents, who include Council vice-chairman Mohammed Jani, senior Congress leaders Paladugu Venkata Rao and B Changal Rayudu, and Sudhakar Babu for four MLC seats.
It has not yet finalised the name for one more seat. In the present situation, the ruling Congress could win five seats (out of a total of 10 MLC seats) since it has decided to leave two seats to the PRP and MIM. The remaining three seats will be bagged by the main opposition TDP depending on its strength in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, APCC president D Srinivas today met chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to discuss the list of party candidates for the MLC seats under MLAs’ quota.
Last date for filing of nominations for the MLC polls is March 7 and elections will be held on March 17.
Exercise is still on to finalise the name for one more seat. In all, 10 MLCs who included five Congress members, two TDP, one each of MIM and CPI and an independent will retire by March 29.
Talking to newsmen, the APCC chief made it clear that he was not contesting the MLC seat. He said that his political future would be decided by the party president Sonia Gandhi.
–Agencies