No Rajya Sabha seat for Telangana TD, says Lokesh
The process of filing of papers for the biennial polls had begun on Tuesday.
Hyderabad: Making it clear that it would not be possible to offer one Rajya Sabha seat to any party leader from TS, Telugu Desam national general-secretary Nara Lokesh on Wednesday said that there were many aspirants seeking RS seat from AP.
Mr Lokesh told newsmen here that selection of TD candidates for the Rajya Sabha would be decided at the party’s politburo meeting either in Tirupati or in Vijayawada before the deadline for filing of nominations expires on May 31.
He said that so far, the TD has not received any request from its alliance partner the BJP to spare one seat from AP.
“If we do receive any such proposal, we will think about it,” he said.
In a related development, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission asking it to consider shifting the place of filing of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha to Vijayawada from Hyderabad.
The Election Commission has notified that nominations will be accepted in the AP Assembly premises located in Hyderabad and has appointed AP Assembly Secretary K. Satyanarayana Rao as the Returning Officer. However, the process of filing of papers for the biennial polls had begun on Tuesday.
Sources in the Election Commission said that it wouldn’t be possible for the EC to accept Mr Naidu’s request. Meanwhile, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy convened a meeting of party legislators and senior leaders on Thursday ahead of his V. Vijay Sai Reddy filing his papers for the Rajya Sabha polls.