Pocharam Srinivas Reddy unanimously elected as Telangana Assembly Speaker

Six-time Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has been Friday unanimously elected Speaker of the newly constituted state assembly in Telangana.

Reddy was formally declared elected as the Speaker by pro-tem speaker Mumtaz Ahmed. Reddy's name was proposed by TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and was supported by all the opposition parties in the House.

Referred fondly by the Chief Minister as 'Laxmi Putrudu' or the son of goddess, Reddy won as MLA from the Banswada assembly constituency for six times.

Pocharam has served as the first minister for agricultural in Telangana. He also served a minister in the cabinet of N Chandrababu Naidu in undivided Andhra Pradesh. After quitting the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2011, he joined the TRS, which was then fighting for separate statehood for Telangana.

Reddy also played a key role in the implementation of several farmer-welfare schemes under KCR's last government.