Hyderabad: On the instructions from AICC general secretary, Digvijay Singh, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday wrote to Telangana Legislative Council Chairman requesting to name Shabbir Ali as the new Leader of the Opposition in place of D. Srinivas whose tenure as MLC ended on March 29.

However, the AICC did a balancing act in naming Shabbir Ali by informing the Council chairman that he may be appointed as Leader of the Opposition, till elections for the existing vacancies for MLCs are held.

Five out of six MLCs (excluding Srinivas and Ali) wrote to AICC president Sonia Gandhi requesting her not to rush ahead naming anyone for the post of Leader of the Opposition and wait till elections to pending vacancies of MLCs are held so that MLCs could elect their leader.

These MLCs, owing allegiance to Srinivas, who was expecting that once he is elected again as MLC he would be the automatic choice for the Leader of the Opposition post.

There is a lot of grouse among the party MLCs regarding the AICC naming Shabbir Ali as Opposition Leader.

“How can Ali, who lost the Assembly polls thrice in a row since 2009, be named as LoP. He colluded with contractors and bigwigs in the land allotment scam of Jubilee Hills and supported them,” said an MLC.