Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s announcement at a public meeting in Nizamabad on Friday that Mohd Azharuddin will be made an MLC has triggered discussion over the available possibilities to send the minority welfare minister to the Upper House in the state.Azharuddin was sworn in as a minister on Oct 31, 2025 and has to become either an MLC or an MLA before April 30. Supreme Court has posted the hearing to March 19 on whether the nomination of Azharuddin and Prof M Kodandaram as MLCs under the governor’s quota was valid.Sources in Congress said the chief minister and the TPCC leadership have decided that one of the MLCs of the party elected under the MLAs’ quota would resign, paving the way for Azharuddin to be sworn in as an MLC. This, they said, would be pursued if other options to make him MLC do not materialise.“Firstly, Revanth and TPCC leadership are hopeful that the governor will approve names of Azharuddin and Kodandaram following a favourable verdict in the Supreme Court. If not, one of the party MLCs, elected under the MLAs’ quota, will resign and give way for Azharuddin’s swearing in as a MLC,” a senior Congress leader said.Though there is no confirmation, the names being discussed in Congress circles are that of TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud or Balmoori Venkat. Both were elected MLCs under the MLAs’ quota. If the TPCC chief is asked to resign, he might be given a Rajya Sabha seat as the term of KR Suresh Reddy of BRS is set to end on April 9. If it is Balmoori, he might be given a chairman’s post or made an advisor to the govt.The possibility of asking one of the MLCs nominated under the governor’s quota to resign is also being discussed. Both B Dayanand and Basavaraj Saraiah are set to complete their term in Nov.Other options include fielding Azharuddin from the Nizamabad local authorities seat, vacated by K Kavitha. For this, Congress would need to win the maximum number of seats in urban local body polls, and the electoral college comprising members from municipal bodies and ex officio among others would need to be more than 75% for the election to be conducted even without MPTC and ZPTC members. ECI would also have to issue a poll notification for the election.One of the last options under discussion is for Azharuddin to resign as the minister on April 30 and be sworn in again after a day or two, giving six more months for him to become an MLA or MLC. Sources pointed to a constitutional provision that allows this, though the Supreme Court has made serious comments on the issue.
