Kodandaram, Amer Ali Khan nominated as MLCs in Telangana

Hyderabad, Jan 25: Academician M. Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan have been nominated as members of Telangana Legislative Council under the Governor's quota.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday accepted the recommendation of the state government.

Kodandaram heads Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), which had stayed away from the recent Assembly elections and backed the Congress. Amer Ali Khan is news editor of Urdu daily ‘Siasat’.

Both the nominations were expected after the Congress came to power last month.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had already announced that Kodandaram will be nominated to the upper house of the state legislature.

Kodandaram, a former professor of political science at Osmania University, had played a key role in the Telangana movement as convenor of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), which included the TRS (now BRS). However, after the formation of Telangana state differences cropped up between Kodandaram and its chief KCR.

The TJS was part of the grand alliance led by the Congress party in Telangana in the 2018 elections. However, the alliance, which also included Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had suffered a crushing defeat.

Amer Ali Khan is son of ‘Siasat’ chief editor Zahid Ali Khan, who was earlier associated with the TDP and also contested Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad constituency in 2009.