K Chandrasekhar Rao is crucial' for Rajya Sabha elections

Hyderabad/ New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar telephoned Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday and requested his support for his party candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election scheduled on August 9. Meanwhile, after a day of political twists and turns, Opposition parties on Tuesday finally decided to field a Congress candidate for the post of deputy chairperson after the NCP’s Vandana Chavan decided to opt out.

Responding to Mr Kumar’s request, Mr Rao said that he would discuss it with party colleagues and take a final decision on this. The NDA led by the BJP has decided to field JDU MP Mr Harivansh Narayan Singh as its candidate in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election.  Opposition parties are yet to decide their candidate.  TRS leader in the Rajya Sabha, Mr K. Keshav Rao, said that their party had not taken a decision on the issue. Speaking to this newspaper, he said the TRS chief would take a decision on Wednesday. TRS sources said that the party may decide to abstain from voting to maintain equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. 

In the recent no-trust motion against the NDA government, the TRS MPs abstained from voting.  But in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election, TRS support is crucial for the BJP.  TRS sources said if pressure came from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM KCR may decide to vote in favor of the JDU candidate.  CM KCR has no dilemma as he is unlikely to support the Congress candidate.  Meanwhile the YSR Congress has decided to vote against the NDA candidate in the election of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. 

YSRC MP, V. Vijayasai Reddy, speaking to media on Tuesday said that their party Chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had decided to vote against the NDA candidate. The YSRC has two MPs in the Rajya Sabha.  Vijayasai Reddy said that they would vote against Harivansh Narayan Singh of JDU who is the BJP led NDA candidate.  Earlier the YSRC backed the NDA candidates in the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections. This time the YSRC has taken a decision to vote against the NDA candidate in a protest against not granting special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The Telugu Desam party which has six members in the Rajya Sabha is likely to vote for the opposition candidate. If the Congress fields its own candidate also, the TD will extend its support to him. On Monday in the Rajya Sabha the Congress voted for TD MP CM Ramesh in the Public Accounts Committee election.  With the support of the Congress, Ramesh won as a member of the PAC with a record majority. Ramesh also attended the meeting of opposition parties organized by AICC leader and MP Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss about the opposition candidate. The TD will support the opposition candidate as AP Chief Minister and TD Chief N Chandrababu Naidu has turned a bitter enemy of the BJP.