Telangana Congress faces a problem of plenty as five Council vacancies open up

HYDERABAD: The political churn triggered by Konda Surekha’s exit from the Telangana Cabinet has moved beyond the question of who will replace her. Inside the ruling Congress, attention has now shifted to a broader exercise in balancing communities, political claims and electoral calculations, with five Legislative Council vacancies expected to come up across the Governor-nominated and Graduates constituencies.

Three Governor-nominated Council seats are falling vacant in November, while two Graduates MLC constituencies will go to the polls when their terms end in March 2027. On paper, these are separate contests. Within the Congress, however, the calculations are increasingly being viewed as parts of the same political puzzle.

The Governor-nominated quota is already emerging as the first test of the party’s social arithmetic. Several prominent leaders are making a case for themselves, but the discussion is also about how the three berths can be distributed without upsetting the wider community balance.

According to party sources, the emerging thinking is that two of the three seats could go to BC communities, with the remaining berth going to a leader from a forward community. The names of Government Adviser Haraka Venugopal, who is also in-charge of the party’s protocol wing, and former Warangal Assembly segment candidate K Dayasagar are doing the rounds for the latter slot.

Representation for forward communities

The argument being made by leaders from the forward communities is that the previous BRS government had accommodated two members from these communities in the Council — Desapathi Srinivas and Surabhi Vani Devi. There is now a view within the Congress that its own nominations should also take this earlier representation into account.

The BC claim, meanwhile, is being pressed with equal force. Padmasali and Yadava leaders are seeking representation, with former Balkonda MLA Erravatri Anil Kumar and Charan Kouhsik Yadav among those understood to be making a pitch for a berth. Their requests are being put before both the state leadership and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

That is where the politics becomes less about individual aspirants and more about the arithmetic of the five seats.

The Graduates MLC contests are already adding another layer to the calculations. Several Congress leaders are understood to be interested in the Mahbubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad constituency, including Shiva Sena Reddy, Sama Ram Mohan Reddy, Sunitha Mahender Reddy, B Venugopal Reddy and Gowri Sateesh.

The Congress, however, is not looking at the contest in isolation. The BRS still has Surabhi Vani Devi as its sitting MLC, though her term ends in March 2027, while the BJP is also working on putting up a strong candidate. BJP state president N Ramchander Rao had earlier represented the same constituency before Vani Devi.

This has prompted some senior Congress leaders to look beyond the immediate list of aspirants and consider a candidate with a wider political base. One name being discussed is M Jeevan Reddy, the president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, whose political family background and financial resources are being seen by some leaders as possible advantages in a Graduates MLC contest. His earlier association with the BRS is also being factored into the calculation, particularly for its potential to draw votes from sections of that party’s support base.

If the Mahbubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad seat presents one set of calculations, the Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam constituency presents another.

The seat, currently represented by Ch Naveen Kumar, popularly known as Teenmar Mallanna, will also fall vacant in March 2027. Here too, the Congress is weighing several names. Among them is Ramreddy Sarvotham Reddy, son of former minister Damodar Reddy, who is understood to have political connections in both Nalgonda and Khammam.

Ponguleti’s brother in the mix for party ticket

Another name doing the rounds is that of Ponguleti Prasad Reddy, brother of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy. At the same time, BC leader and Nalgonda DCC president P Kailash is also understood to be seeking the party ticket.

The contest carries an added political weight because the three districts fall within the constituencies of several senior Congress leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Thummala Nageswara Rao and Danasri Anasuya (Seethakka).

For the Congress leadership, therefore, the question is not simply who can win a particular MLC election. It is how each choice affects the next political calculation.

That is particularly true of the Governor-nominated seats. Party leaders are conscious of the complications that can arise if all three nominations are seen as purely political appointments. During the previous BRS regime, the Governor had rejected some nominations, while the Supreme Court later cancelled the appointments of M Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan after the Congress government nominated them to the Council.

Sources said that the chief minister is therefore also considering prominent personalities associated with social service and individuals with wider public standing and links across different professional fields. The indication within the party is that, of the three Governor-nominated seats, perhaps only one may go to a person directly identified with the political establishment.

Selection tied to Cabinet reshuffle and expansion

The final choices could also be tied to the larger question of a Cabinet reshuffle or expansion. With some communities potentially finding representation through the Legislative Council, the party could use the Cabinet exercise to accommodate others. In other words, one appointment cannot be viewed without considering the next one.

For now, there is little clarity on the chief minister’s final strategy. Leaders seeking tickets are making their cases, community representatives are pressing for their share and senior politicians are watching how the pieces fit together.

The immediate pressure, however, is clear. Following Surekha’s removal from the Cabinet, the Congress has to reassure sections of the BC communities while maintaining its broader social coalition. Party leaders are therefore discussing whether one or two of the five forthcoming MLC positions — across the Governor-nominated and Graduate quotas — could be used to address that concern.

In Congress politics, as elsewhere, one seat rarely settles the equation. The way it is filled often determines who gets the next one.