Telangana CLP endorses Abhishek Manu Singhvi's candidature for RS by-election

Hyderabad, Aug 18 : Telangana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Sunday endorsed the candidature of Abhishek Manu Singhvi for the by-election to Rajya Sabha.

The CLP meeting held here on Sunday and attended by Singhvi, passed a resolution endorsing the decision of the party's central leadership.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy thanked the high command for immediately accepting the proposal to field Singhvi as the candidate for the by-election.

The Chief Minister mentioned that several Constitutional and legal complications and impediments have come up in the implementation of the State Reorganisation Act 2014.

He recalled that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had provided legal sanction to the commitments made at the time of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, but for 10 years the Centre did not implement any of the commitments.

"There is a need to present strong arguments on the issues related to the State Reorganisation Act in the Legislature and the Supreme Court. Keeping this in view, we had requested the high command to send Constitutional and legal expert Abhishek Manu Singhvi to the Rajya Sabha from Telangana," he said.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi will argue strongly in the Rajya Sabha about solving the unresolved issues related to the Reorganisation Act.

Revanth Reddy introduced Singhvi to the MLAs and they unanimously supported his candidature.

Singhvi, a member of the Congress Working Committee and senior national spokesperson of the party, will file his nomination on Monday.

He thanked the AICC leaders for naming him as the candidate for the by-election. He met MLAs, MLCs and MPs from the state.

Singhvi said he would continue to speak for the rights of Telangana.

The CLP meeting was also attended by senior leader K. Keshava Rao, whose resignation as Rajya Sabha member created the vacancy.

Revanth Reddy said Keshava Rao acted politely as a disciplined Congress worker with a big heart by relinquishing the MP post.

Keshava Rao quit as a Rajya Sabha member after resigning from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the Congress last month. His term was expiring in March 2026.

Earlier, soon after his arrival in Hyderabad, Singhvi called on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Keshava Rao.

The by-election is scheduled for September 3.

The Congress is confident of winning the by-election given its strength in the Telangana Assembly.

In the Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress had won 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly.

It also won the Secunderabad Assembly seat in the by-election held in May this year.

The party's strength rose further with 10 MLAs from BRS switching loyalties during the last six months.

The defected MLAs also attended Sunday's CLP meeting.