Council headless for 7 months, Telangana to stick to pro tem chairman

HYDERABAD: The Telangana legislative council has been without a full-time chairperson for the past seven months. While full-fledged chairperson Gutta Sukhender Reddy retired in June last year, V Bhoopal Reddy, who was made pro tem chairman immediately, also retired on January 4.
Along with full-time chairperson, the post of council vice-chairperson is also vacant since June last year after the retirement of Neti Vidyasagar along with the chairperson.
“This is the first time that the legislative council did not have a full-fledged chairperson for seven months. The state government continued with the pro tem chairperson as it could not find a member of its choice,” a senior state official said. While there is no word on when a full-time chairperson will be elected, the state government, meanwhile, has sent the file for appointment of another pro tem chairperson to the Raj Bhavan. The government is likely to appoint one of the senior members, D Rajeshwara Rao or V Gangadhar Goud, as the next pro tem chairperson.
Sources in the Raj Bhavan said though the state knew that pro tem chairperson Bhoopal Reddy was retiring on January 4, it did not send the file to the governor for approval. Official said the file was sent a couple of days ago and is awaiting approval.
Though Gutta Sukhender got re-elected under MLA quota to the council, he is out of the race as he is likely to be inducted into the cabinet in the next reshuffle. Former assembly speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, who was nominated to the council under governor’s quota, may make the cut as fullfledged chairperson keeping in view his earlier experience as assembly speaker.
While the council waits for a new head, the newly elected 12 MLCs from Local Authority Constituencies, whose election was notified by the Election Commission of India (ECI), also have to wait for a pro tem chairperson to take oath. In the recently held MLC elections, six seats were elected under MLA quota, 12 under Local Authority Constituencies and one nominated by the governor.