In Telangana, there is no scarcity for sentiments. Now political circles are full rumours that no senior MLA in TRS is ready to accept the Assembly Speaker post. The reason is nobody has won as an MLA after serving as the Speaker. However, the name of former finance minister Etela Rajender is doing the rounds for this post.
On his part, Etela is trying to get into the Cabinet once again. He served as the first finance minister of separated Telangana state. When the rumours about his becoming Speaker reached him, Etela dismissed them and he is saying CM Chandrasekhara Rao knows full well which post should be given to whom. Even then, there is a lurking fear in Etela’s followers that he may be offered the Speaker post by KCR.
Etela has been a close associate of KCR right from the days of Telangana agitation and after. He faced many police cases at the time of agitation and kept by the side of KCR for which Etela was suitably honoured with the finance minister’s post. Now that the equations are changing, KCR is expected to change his mind and make Etela the Speaker.
Moreover, there are indications that KCR wants to slowly bring in new faces and younger players so as to strengthen the position of his son KTR for him to become CM later. Consequently, the TRS party is giving news leaks on Etela being considered for the Speaker over which he looks upset and keeps himself to his Huzurabad segment these days.
