Hyderabad: The TRS continues to keep all the parties guessing on whom it will support in the ensuing election of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman. The TRS with six members can play a crucial role in deciding the winner. Both the NDA and the Congress are vying for the post. The Congress is seeking the support of all Opposition parties. The BJP is confident that the TRS will support it. The TRS had supported the BJP to elect the President and the Vice-President elections but has not made its stand clear on whom it will support now.
TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been mulling various options on how to proceed on this issue. One of the options is to extend 'conditional support' to the NDA by seeking fulfillment of promises made to the state in the AP Reorganisation Act, especially with regard to setting up of a steel plant in Bayyaram, the Information Techno-logy Investment Region (ITIR) and approval to new zonal system.
The option may be abstaining from voting to send a message that TRS sources said Mr Rao would hold a meeting this week with senior leaders and all MPs to take a call on the party's strategy for the election. The election has become a key test for the strength of the NDA led by the BJP and the Opposition led by the Congress, which currently holds the seat. The NDA is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and is keen that a candidate of its choice wins the election. The BJP is the single-largest party in Rajya Sabha, but NDA is well short of the 123-member half-way mark in Rajya Sabha.
The term of deputy chairman P.J. Kurien ended on July 1. The election will be held during the ensuing Monsoon Session of Parliament to be held between July 18 and August 10. The NDA won the election of Vice-President, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chairman, and wants the Deputy Chairman’s post. With less than a year to go for the elections, this poll is key for the NDA government to push forward its legislative agenda. Though the NDA government could pass crucial bills in Lok Sabha, they are getting stuck in the Rajya Sabha where Opposition has the majority.
