Telangana: Ex-MLA Veeraiah wants MLC seat, berth in State Cabinet

With the release of the notification for the MLC elections under the MLAs quota, he intensified his lobbying for the MLA quota MLC seat and then to get a berth in the Cabinet in case of an expansion

Kothagudem: Former Congress MLA Podem Veeraiah, currently serving as the chairman of Telangana Forest Development Corporation, has revived his efforts to get into the State Cabinet.

With the release of the notification for the MLC elections under the MLAs quota, he intensified his lobbying for the MLA quota MLC seat and then to get a berth in the Cabinet in case of an expansion. Ever since he unsuccessfully contested from Bhadrachalam Assembly seat in the 2023 elections, Veeraiah has been after the party leadership to send him to the Legislative Council. He is said to be unhappy with the corporation post and is insisting on the MLC seat to suit his seniority.

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According to party sources, he made this demand as soon as the Congress party came to power by writing a letter to the high command and took it to the notice of the party leader Rahul Gandhi. During the 2023 polls it was rumoured that if Veeraiah wins, he would become a Minister.

Veeraiah, who previously won as an MLA from Mulugu, has been a Congress loyalist for over three decades of his political career and has never defected from the party. However, since the Mulugu seat had to be given to Seethakka, the Congress high command shifted him to Bhadrachalam in the 2018 elections and won with just a couple of weeks of campaigning.

As there were three Ministers from the erstwhile Khammam district, the party leaders feel that it was unlikely that another Cabinet berth could be given to the district even if Veeraiah becomes MLC. But his followers are saying that the former MLA is adamant on getting a Cabinet berth in recognition of his loyalty to the party. He has already gone to Delhi to emphasise his point.

Meanwhile, Veeraiah’s followers are reaching out to the media in support of their leader. Paloncha Congress mandal party president Gaddala Ramesh, speaking to the media recently, appealed to the party high command and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to make Veeraiah an MLC under MLA quota as well as to induct him into the State Cabinet.