Congress to help TRS win one RS seat

HYDERABAD: In its bid to win over the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the run-up to the general elections, the Congress high command is understood to have decided to lend a helping hand to the pink party in the Rajya Sabha polls by transferring its surplus votes.

According to sources, the AICC leadership is of the opinion that unless the TRS is merged with it or an alliance forged, it cannot reap a rich electoral harvest from its decision to carve a separate Telangana State out of Andhra Pradesh.

Hence, the decision to help the TRS win one Rajya Sabha seat. This strategy of the AICC leadership has been reportedly conveyed to Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botcha Satyanarayana and former minister DL Ravindra Reddy during their recent visit to Delhi.

After the Election Commission issued the notification for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Botcha, Ravindra Reddy and ministers Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, M Maheedhar Reddy and K Parthasarathi went into a huddle to discuss party strategy in the polls to be held on Feb 7 for six seats.

Congress MLA M Sridhar Krishna Reddy (Nellore Urban), who had already announced that he was quitting the Congress to join the TDP, also attended the meeting. A leader, who participated in the meeting, told reporters that the AICC leadership had decided to field its candidates for three seats which the party could comfortably win on its own.

However, the party high command has almost made up its mind to transfer its surplus votes to the TRS candidate, he said. The TRS leadership is reportedly contemplating fielding former Congress leader and veteran politician K Kesava Rao, who enjoys considerable clout among Telangana Congress MLAs. However, former MP B Vinod Kumar's name is also doing the rounds.

As each member needs 39 votes to win, the Congress with an effective strength of 142 MLAs (though it has 146 on paper) can win three seats comfortably if all of them cooperate whereas the opposition TDP can easily win two seats with its present strength of 79 legislators.

The fate of the sixth seat will be decided by the surplus members of the Congress and the TDP along with legislators of the TRS, YSRC and MIM. In fact, the TRS and YSRC have 17 members each and the MIM 7. The BJP has 4 seats, CPI 3, CPM 1 and Lok Satta 1. There are three independents as well.

If the TRS gets the support of the 25 surplus seats of the Congress, it can easily win the sixth seat. PCC chief Botcha said his party would take a decision on fielding a fourth candidate only after knowing the stand of the TRS, indirectly hinting at the Congress strategy.

Botcha and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will soon go to Delhi to hold talks with the Congress high command to finalise the party candidates.