Kodela Sivaprasada Rao will be Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker

Hyderabad, June 19 (IANS) Senior TDP leader Kodela Sivaprasada Rao is all set to be unanimously elected speaker of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly.

Kodela was the only one to file nomination papers for the post Thursday. His election will be formally announced Friday.

The main opposition YSR Congress Party supported Kodela's nomination, paving the way for his unanimous election.

Hailing from Guntur district in south coastal Andhra, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader was elected to the assembly from Sattenpalli constituency. He had earlier represented Narsaraopet constituency in the same district five times.

A physician by profession, 67-year-old Kodela served as home minister in NTR's government in the 1980s. He also held the portfolios of health and panchayati raj in Chandrababu Naidu's cabinets between 1995 and 2004.

Kodela, a general surgeon, contested for the first time in 1983 from Narsaraopet. Following successive defeats in 2004 and 2009, he changed the constituency.