If the reports doing rounds in a section of media are to be believed, former deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari is going to be fielded by the TRS as the party candidate in the elections to the legislative council under graduates’ constituency quota.
According to sources, TRS working president and IT minister K T Rama Rao had reportedly called Srihari for negotiations and requested him to contest the MLC elections from the graduates’ constituency comprising Warangal, Nalgonda and Khammam districts.
Srihari, who enjoyed bigger positions in the state during the Telugu Desam Party regime, had been completely sidelined in the TRS for the last two years.
During his initial days in the TRS, he got elected as an MP from Warangal, but was later made deputy CM. He was elected to the legislative council later.
However, in the 2018 elections, Srihari was not given the party ticket. Though he lobbied for the party ticket to his daughter, the TRS high command ignored him. Since then, he has been lying low.
Now, the party apparently realised that it needs a tough candidate to win the graduates’ MLC seat. And it could not find a better person than Kadiyam Srihari, who still enjoys a lot of support among the youth.
Since Telangana Jana Samithi president M Kodandaram is planning to contest from this constituency, only Srihari, a Dalit leader, can give a tough fight and has the chances of winning the seat, the party felt.
However, Srihari has put forth a demand to the party leadership that his daughter be given the ticket to contest the next assembly elections. Apparently, the high command is learnt to have promised him the same.
