In a twist, Congress replaces Amer Ali Khan with Azharuddin in MLC nominations

The Congress government in Telangana has announced the nomination of Prof. Kodandaram Reddy and Mohammed Azharuddin under the Governor’s quota for the MLC elections, following the Supreme Court’s annulment of previous nominations. Azharuddin, a former cricketer and Congress candidate in the 2023 Assembly elections, had contested unsuccessfully from Jubilee Hills.

Hyderabad: In a new twist to the MLC nominations under the Governor’s quota, the Congress government has decided to nominate Prof. Kodandaram Reddy and Mohammed Azharuddin.

The State cabinet, which met here on Saturday, decided on this, replacing Amer Ali Khan with Azharuddin in the wake of the Supreme Court annulling the nominations of Prof. Kodandaram and Khan recently. Interestingly, the former cricketer had contested from the Jubilee Hills constituency in the 2023 assembly elections on Congress ticket but lost.

---

After the demise of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the BRS, Azharuddin was considered to be among the front contenders from the Congress to contest the by-elections. He had even met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to secure a ticket recently.

However, the State unit appears to have different plans with a BC candidate to be reportedly fielded from Jubilee Hills. There were also chances of the AIMIM raising objections over Azharuddin being fielded from the constituency, a senior Congress leader said.

As there was no Muslim Minister in the State cabinet, the Congress government has been facing severe criticism from all sections. To counter this, the Congress is said to be contemplating to give a cabinet berth as well to the former cricketer.