Telangana Governor nominates Azharuddin, Kodandaram as MLCs

Hyderabad: Telangana Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Sunday nominated state minister Mohammad Azharuddin and Prof. M. Kodandaram as members of the Telangana Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota.

However, the nominations will be subject to the final outcome of all the appeals pending in this regard, according to a notification issued by the state government.

According to the notification, Azharuddin and Kodandaram have been nominated in place of D. Rajeshwar Rao and Farooq Hussain, whose terms expired on May 27, 2023.

Azharuddin’s nomination as an MLC came as a huge relief for the former India cricket captain and the ruling Congress party.

Azharuddin, who was sworn in as a minister on October 31, 2025, is constitutionally required to get elected to either the Assembly or the Council by April 30 to continue in the Cabinet.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had met the Governor on April 19 to request approval of the pending nominations of Minorities Welfare Minister Mohammad Azharuddin and Prof. Kodandaram to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota.

The Telangana Cabinet had recommended the names of Azharuddin and Kodandaram for nomination to the Council under the Governor’s quota on August 30, 2025.

Last month, the Chief Minister had exuded confidence that the Governor would give the nod to their nominations.

He noted that the Supreme Court had recently observed that it had no objection in the matter and that the state government was free to pursue the issue with the Governor for clearance.

The Cabinet’s decision to nominate them as MLCs in August last year came two weeks after the Supreme Court stayed the appointment of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under the Governor’s quota.

Both Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan were sworn in as MLCs in 2024. The apex court granted a stay on a petition filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, challenging the nominations made by the state government.

The petitioners had challenged the appointments on the ground that they violated interim orders of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court observed that the swearing-in after the interim orders was improper and made it clear that any appointments made under the Governor’s quota would be subject to the outcome of the ongoing legal proceedings.

Both Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan were nominated to the Council under the Governor’s quota after the state Cabinet again sent the recommendation to the Governor in August 2024.

They were nominated as MLCs in January 2024, but the High Court set aside the nominations in March on petitions filed by Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, whose nominations as MLCs had been recommended by the previous BRS government in July 2023. The same was rejected by then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on the grounds that the two were “politically aligned persons”.

The High Court had quashed the Governor’s decision rejecting the nominations of Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana, and held that the Governor can only return the government’s recommendation for reconsideration.

Following the High Court order, the BRS leaders had requested the Governor to nominate them as MLCs. However, as the BRS had lost power to the Congress, the Governor rejected the request.

Sravan and Satyanarayana had challenged the Governor’s refusal in the Supreme Court. As the High Court had not passed any direction to the Governor to nominate them, they pleaded with the apex court to issue a direction to the Governor to appoint them. The Supreme Court declined to pass any such order.

IANS