The nomination of TRS leader P. Kaushik Reddy to the Legislative Council from the Governor’s quota was shrouded in uncertainty 20 days after the Cabinet cleared his name and sent the file to Raj Bhavan.
Sources said Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had not yet given her consent to Mr. Reddy’s nomination apparently because there were some criminal cases pending against him. One of them was over a fight with a relative of actor couple Rajasekhar and Jeevitha at a parking space. A case was booked subsequently against Mr. Reddy at Jubilee Hills police station.
When three others — Goreti Venkanna, Basavaraju Saraiah and Dayanand — were proposed by the government for nomination under the Governor’s quota a few months back, sources recalled that the formalities were completed quickly. Therefore, sources argued that there could be no other reason than cases to delay the nomination of Mr. Reddy.
Mr. Reddy was rewarded with nomination as MLC within 10 days of joining the TRS.. He was a Congress leader before joining the party and had announced that he would be its candidate in the byelection to Huzurabad Assembly constituency. An audio of his pledging money to a supporter for his candidature also went viral on the social media which invited disciplinary action against him him by the Congress.
Mr. Reddy had secured 61,000 votes to former Minister Eatala Rajender’s 1.04 lakh votes in the last Assembly elections from Huzurabad. So, he was strongly reckoned to be the Congress candidate in the bypoll but his meeting with TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao at a social gathering and the social media post put him off the Congress radar in the choice of candidates for poll.
Mr. Reddy was a cricketer who organised social service in the name of a trust after his mother Pushpamala Devi in Huzurabad constituency. There were cases registered against him at police stations in the constituency.
Generally, the candidates nominated under the Governor’s quota were people of eminence in the fields of literature, science, art and culture, social service and cooperative movement. Mr. Reddy fitted in the category of social service but his antecedents of committing offences ran him into trouble, sources added.
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