Hyderabad: With the announcement of the schedule for biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, political activity is set to pick up in both Telugu states. Elections will be held on March 28 for two seats in Telangana state and for four in AP.
This time the political activity will be confined to the ruling parties as the Opposition parties do not have the required number of MLAs to win even a single seat. Both Rajya Sabha seats from Telangana state will go to the TRS and all the four from AP to the YSRC. Most probably the elections will be unopposed.
Three Congress MPs — Dr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, T. Subbarami Reddy and M.A. Khan — and one MP from each from the TRS (Dr K. Kesava Rao), BJP (Garikapati Mohan Rao) and the TD (Thota Seetharama Lakshmi) will be retiring on April 9. The election notification to fill their seats will be issued on March 6.
Political circles waiting to see if Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will send his daughter and former MP K. Kavitha to the Rajya Sabha. Another point of interest is whether Dr Kesava Rao, the TRS secretary-general, will be renominated or not.
There are many aspirants for the two RS seats. Sources close to Mr Rao said that he may not give a ticket to a BC leader as the party has four Rajya Sabha members already. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao is of the opinion that there is no strong MP in Parliament and is searching for one.
TRS leaders said former MPs B. Vinod Kumar and Ms Kavitha were suitable to coordinate with the other MPs and raise a strong voice in Parliament. Former Khammam district MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy who sacrificed his seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was promised a Rajya Sabha ticket by the Chief Minister.
Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s close relative Santosh Kumar is already a Rajya Sabha member. If Ms Kavitha is also sent to the Upper House, two of the seven TRS Rajya Sabha members will be from his family and this may attract criticism from the Opposition and from withing the party.
According to one strand of opinion, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao may not prefer candidates who lost in last year’s Lok Sabha elections. If this holds, Ms Kavitha and Mr Vinod Kumar will be out of the race and Dr Kesava Rao may retrain his seat.
In AP, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has promised to send about 30 leaders to the Legislative Council. But the decision to dissolve the Council will leave them adrift; besides, two ministers will lose their Cabinet berths. Either of the ministers, Mr Mopidevi Venkataramana and Mr Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, will get an RS ticket.
In addition, there are several senior leaders aspiring for Rajya Sabha seats. One of them is former MP and TTD chairman Y.S. Subba Reddy, who gave up his Ongole Lok Sabha seat in the general elections. Mr Mantri Rajasekhar from Guntur district, a strong follower of the YSR family, sacrificed his Assembly seat in the 2019 elections.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy in his election campaign had announced that Mr Rajasekhar will be made an MLC and will be made a minister. That plan will be affected with the dissolution of the Council. YSRC circles said that Mr Rajasekhar who is from the Kamma community may get Rajya Sabha ticket.
YSRC leader Ayodhya Ramir Reddy may also get Rajya Sabha ticket. There are speculations former Union minister K. Chiranjeevi and Ms Y.S. Sharmila, the sister of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, may make it to the Rajya Sabha but this was denied by sources close to the CM. Former MLA from Nellore district Bidam Masthan Rao who joined the YSRC from the TD may get a Rajya Sabha ticket.
