TRS MLC Swamy Goud was elected as the Chairman of Telangana State Legislative Council here on Wednesday.
Swamy Goud’s secured 21 votes to win the elections while in a dramatic twist, the Congress party announced its withdrawal from the contest after the beginning of polling. The election process began immediately after the commencement of the session at 11 AM on Wednesday. However, Leader of the Opposition D Srinivas raised objections to the elections while accusing the ruling TRS of encouraging defections. He said instead of public issues, the Council’s session has been convened only to elect the Chairman.
Refuting the allegations, Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao said that the session was convened following a notification issued by the Governor. However, Srinivas refused to buy his contention and alleged that the elections for Chairman’s posts were held on Wednesday to influence the election of chairman of local bodies, ZPTC/MPTCs to be held on Thursday. He also objected to the conduct of elections using secret ballot.
Meanwhile, Council incharge Chairman Nethi Vidyasagar Rao began the process of elections at 11.45 AM and first and second vote were given by Mahmood Ali and Nayani Narasimha Reddy respectively. Trouble began when the Assembly Secretary announced the name of D Srinivas. The Congress MLCs rushed into the well and started shouting slogans against the government. The situation turned more serious when TRS MLC P Sudhakar Reddy and Congress MLC Mohammad Ali Shabbir pushed each other in the House. Later, Srinivas announced the withdrawal of party’s candidiate Farooq Hussain from the contest and staged a walk out along with his party men.
The process of election continued and out of 35 MLCs 21 exercised their vote in favour of Swamy Goud. Later, Vidyasagar Rao announced the election of Swamy Goud who was later escorted to the Chair by Deputy CM Mahmood Ali, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao, MLCs including Ameenual Hassan Jaferi, K Yadav Reddy , Prof Nageshwara Rao, Mohammad Saleem and others. (INN)