DS to lead Congress in Telangana Council

Hyderabad, June 3: Former PCC President Dharampuri Srinivas has been elected as the leader of Congress party in Telangana State Legislative Council.

According to sources, DS was elected by a margin of one vote against another contender Mohammad Ali Shabbir. Both the leaders hail from Nizambad district and had lost the recent Assembly elections. Sixteen out of 17 MLCs who attended the meeting in the Assembly premises on Tuesday were divided in two groups. Shabbir Ali reportedly demanded that secret ballot be used to elect the new leader. However, senior Congress leaders including Digivijay Singh and Vylar Ravi, who were present in the meeting, decided to take the opinions individually from all MLCs.

With both DS and Shabbir Ali securing equal number of votes in their favour, the Congress leaders contacted another MLC Santosh Kumar, who did not attended the meeting. Sources say that Santosh Kumar voted in favour of Srinivas.

Speaking to media persons later, Vylar Ravi announced that DS would lead the party in Telangana Legislative Council and Shabbir Ali would be the Deputy Leader. (INN)