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TDP, TRS announce candidates for Rajya Sabha polls
In both states, the selected candidates of the TDP and the TRS would file their nomination papers on Monday, the last date for the paperwork. Voting will be necessary in Telangana if the Congress does not withdraw its candidate.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has re-nominated parliamentarian CM Ramesh for a second term in the Rajya Sabha, while Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar will be the party’s second candidate for the March 23 biennial elections to three seats in Andhra Pradesh.
State chief minister and party president N Chandrababu Naidu finalised the two names at a meeting on Sunday. TDP Andhra Pradesh unit president Kala Venkata Rao said in a brief statement that Naidu held prolonged consultations with party leaders for three days before taking the final decision.
The party was initially planning to field candidates for the three Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant on April 2.
Of the three seats, the TDP with 102 lawmakers in the 175-member assembly can effortlessly win two. The opposition YSR Congress, which has 44 MLAs after the defection of 23 to the TDP, has the strength to win the third seat. All the three contestants are likely to be elected unopposed.
YSR Congress candidate Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy filed his nomination papers three days ago.
According to TDP sources, who don’t want to be named, the selection of Kumar — a lawyer and the party’s legal cell convenor — has surprised many as he faced stiff competition from leaders such as Varla Ramaiah, Masala Padma and B Ravichandra Yadav.
Also, the sources said Ramesh, a businessman-turned-politician from Kadapa, had to lobby hard to push his name for a re-nomination.
In neighbouring Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi has the capability to win all the three Upper House seats in Parliament comfortably, with 90 MLAs, including defectors from other parties.
TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, announced on Sunday the names of Joginapalli Santosh Kumar, Badugula Lingaiah Yadav and Banda Prakash Mudiraj as party candidates of the elections.
Kumar is KCR’s nephew and is from the Velama community. The other two belong to other backward castes — Yadav is from the Yadava, or shepherd, community and Mudiraj is from the fishermen’s community.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen or AIMIM, with seven legislators, has extended support to the TRS candidates.
The Congress, which has 13 MLAs in the Telangana assembly, decided to field former Union minister P Balram Naik for the Rajya Sabha.
In both states, the selected candidates of the TDP and the TRS would file their nomination papers on Monday, the last date for the paperwork. Voting will be necessary in Telangana if the Congress does not withdraw its candidate.
