Nandamuri Balakrishna in RS race?
Hyderabad : With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for the Rajya Sabha elections, major political parties in the State ' the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party - are facing a tough time in the selection of candidates.
The biennial elections this time around have become ticklish with the regional dynamics coming in to play a key role. There are six seats to be filled.
The Congress MPs T Subbirami Reddy, K V P Ramachandra Rao, Nandi Yellaiah, T Ratna Bai and M A Khan are set to retire in April while TDP's Nandamuri Harikrishna had resigned from the Upper House in support of the united Andhra Pradesh cause.
With the regional divide posing a new challenge, the Congress is in a piquant situation in the selection of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections.
As part of an exercise to select candidates, the representatives of the Congress high command have already visited the State party headquarters and made a preliminary assessment.With 146 MLAs in the Assembly, the Congress is in a comfortable position to bag three seats.
It might even make an effort to win fourth seat with the support of Telangana Rashtra Samithi and MIM. According to Congress sources, KVP Ramachandra Rao and MA Khan are likely to get re-nominated.
This leaves one seat for a comfortable win from the Assembly quota and all eyes are on this. The strategy of the Congress would be to have two candidates each from Telangana and Seemandhra in order to balance the regional considerations and then try and win the fourth seat with the support of allies.
The Congress has 50 MLAs in the Telangana region. This strength is not enough to get two candidates elected but the ruling party is planning to bridge this gap by taking the support of TRS and MIM.
However, 'Jagan' factor is causing worry for the party as at least 30 Congress MLAs are said to be waiting for a right time to switch over to YSR Congress Party. In such a scenario, the ruling party's task to get its nominees elected will be become difficult.
If YSR Congress party chooses to field its candidate for strategic reasons, then the Congress leadership might witness cross voting in a big way, as many Congress legislators from Seemandhra region are ready to jump fence in the event of Telangana bill going to Parliament in February.
The YSR Congress party, at present, has 17 MLAs, besides six others who pledged their support to Jagan openly. At the same time, the TRS is also said to be contemplating its own candidate in the RS elections, hoping to get the support from the Telangana Congress leaders.
It is likely to field veteran leader and former MP K Kesava Rao, who is playing active role in the party. The TRS, too, has 17 MLAs and it requires the support of another 25 MLAs.
As regards the TDP, the party is falling short of a few MLAs to win two seats. While it can win one seat comfortably, it can with the second seat with the support of others ' may be BJP.
There are several contenders for these two seats.While the name of Tungaturthi MLA Mothkupalli Narasimhulu is prominently heard, there are reports that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu might field his brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna in place of the latter's brother Harikrishna.
However, Balakrishna has been expressing his desire to contest the Assembly elections, rather than going to Parliament. The names of industrialist Garikapati Mohan Rao, MLA Ravula Chandrasekhara Reddy, former minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Aravind Kumar Goud are also being talked about in the TDP circles.
The party-wise break up in the 294-member Assembly is: Congress 146, TDP 80, TRS and YSR Congress 17 each, MIM seven, CPI four, BJP and Independents three each, Lok Satta and CPI (M) one each.
News Posted: 16 January, 2014
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