Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy praised Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi as a legal luminary and Constitutional expert who would ensure that Telangana gets its rights under the A.P. Reorganisation Act, that were not implemented in the past 10 years.
Introducing Mr. Singhvi to the MLAs at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Sunday, he thanked the party high command for nominating him to the vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Telangana and said that he would be a strong voice for Telangana in Parliament and also in the Supreme Court.
Mr Singhvi is the party nominee for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by K. Keshava Rao following his resignation after he switched to the Congress from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) a couple of months ago. Mr. Keshava Rao had been elected from the BRS. The Chief Minister also said that Mr. Keshava Rao had a big heart and made many sacrifices for Telangana’s interests as a disciplined soldier of the Congress.
Earlier, Mr Singhvi called on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and other Ministers of the Cabinet ahead of filing of his nomination for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Telangana on Monday. His election looks unanimous with the BRS likely to stay out of the race due to a shortage of numbers, and the CLP meeting was just a courtesy meeting.
Mr. Singhvi, a strong voice of the party and an acknowledged legal brain, lost the Rajya Sabha election a few months ago from Himachal Pradesh due to six Congress rebel MLAs voting in favour of the BJP nominee. The party high command was desperate to send him to Rajya Sabha and the entry of Mr. Keshava Rao came as a blessing.
Mr. Keshava Rao resigned and later was awarded the post of adviser to the Telangana government. Mr. Singhvi is a Congress Working Committee member and has served three terms in the Upper House of Parliament.