Hyderabad: In a move that may lead to unanimous elections for the six Rajya Sabha seats, YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had categorically announced on Thursday that it would neither contest nor participate in voting in support of a candidate.
Party senior leader M.V. Mysoora Reddy, who issued the statement, said, “We have decided not to field candidates for the RS polls because we do not have sufficient numbers. Our legislators will not participate in voting. Fielding a candidate depending on the strength of some other party will make it politics of match-fixing and connivance.”
The YSRC’s decision comes as a shock to ‘rebel’ candidates like J.C. Diwakar Reddy and Chaitanya Raju, who had pinned their hopes on YSRC MLAs to get elected in the first count.
Now, with the YSR Congress deciding to stay away from participating in the polling, the requisite strength has reduced from 40 to 37. It is very difficult for the rebel candidates to manage that from the traditional parties.
With the decision of the YSR Congress, which has 17 MLAs on its own and six legislators from TD and Congress, it looks as if the RS polls are heading for unanimous elections.
The last date for filing nomination papers for the six vacant RS seats is January 28. If more than six valid nominations are filed, the only polling will be held on February 7.
According to insiders, the YSRC chief who is in Chittoor district held consultations with senior party functionaries and reportedly expressed apprehensions about the party not benefitting if it decides to support a candidate belonging to another party or contest seeking support from other parties. He also reportedly said that political adversaries would make an issue of it and try to accuse the party of match-fixing in connivance with the Congress.
