It is a welcome news that senior Congress leader and former CM K Rosaiah has been appointed as Governor of Tamilnadu. But the Legislative Council seat to be vacated by him is likely to trigger a tough race between the aspirants from all the regions in the state.

Rosaiah got elected to the council in April 2009 for a period of six years and his resignation will provide an opportunity for another person to function as MLC for more than three and half years. As a result, a race is set to take place among many leaders for that elusive seat from the state who missed the bus in the earlier Council elections. Party sources indicated that the seat has already been reserved for the PRP as per the agreement of merger with the Congress. If that is true, erstwhile PRP president Chiranjeevi is expected to nominate either Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao or Buragadda Vedavyas. "Since Rosaiah hails from Andhra region, the seat vacated by him is expected to go to that region only," said the sources.

Not to be left behind, there are several names doing rounds from the Telangana region. Foremost among these names is former PCC president D Srinivas. Srinivas could not get a place either in the two legislatures or in the AICC organization after his term as PCC chief ended two months ago. He could not get the Council nomination last April. Similarly, he did not get even the much-talked about elevation to the AICC. But Srinivas has tough competition from his own district as former Speaker K R Suresh Reddy and former minister Md Shabbir Ali are in the race. Like, Srinivas, these leaders also lost the 2009 election and have been in political wilderness since then.


Considered to be a friend of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Suresh Reddy will definitely get the CM's backing for the council seat. Unable to get along with his cabinet colleagues, Kiran Kumar is in bad need of an advisor and many think that he stands a strong chance. Similarly, another strong contender is Shabbir Ali, who is known in the Congress circles as a protégé of Ghulam Nabi Azad, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs.

The other Telangana name doing the rounds is that of T Jeevan Reddy, also a former minister and vocal supporter of YSR. Recently, Jeevan Reddy was in the news for his strong defence of YSR. Many think that the party may silence him by offering the Council seat. But, there is another story doing the rounds according to which Rosaiah will nominate his successor from his Vysya community. In that case, APIIC chairman S Siva Subramaniam is very likely to get a chance, say the sources.