HYDERABAD: Ahead of the Budget session of the Telangana legislature, focus has shifted once again to the posts of deputy speaker, chief whip and whip, which continue to remain vacant even as the Congress nears the halfway mark of its five-year term.

With the session approaching, ruling Congress MLAs expect the vacancies to be addressed during the Budget sitting. Aspirants for these posts have stepped up their efforts, lobbying Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the party’s state leadership to take a decision in the current session.

Congress sources said the party high command has also conveyed that the appointments should not be delayed further and has expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of progress so far.

Against this backdrop, the chief minister, senior ministers and party leaders are engaged in consultations to identify MLAs for the chief whip and whip positions.

The name of MLA and Whip Ramchandra Naik had been proposed by the party high command for the post of Deputy Speaker about a year ago, but no election notification has been issued so far.

Party sources indicated that the notification is likely during the forthcoming Budget session.

Several MLAs have been lobbying both within the chief minister’s circle and with AICC leaders. Sources said one MLA from the erstwhile Rangareddy district is under consideration for the Chief Whip post, while both senior MLAs and first-time legislators are also seeking Whip positions.

A final decision is expected after consultations involving the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee leadership and AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan once the session begins.

The story is reported by Ireddy Srinivas Reddy of The New Indian Express