K Chandrasekhar Rao, Chandrababu Naidu may contest both state and Lok Sabha polls
Hyderabad: The Chief Ministers of both Telugu states, K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu, are contemplating contesting both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. There is pressure on both Chief Ministers from within their parties to make their sons Chief Ministers of the respective states, while they move on to national politics.
Some TD leaders, including MPs J.C. Diwakar Reddy and T.G. Venkatesh, openly asked Mr Naidu to make his son and IT minister, Nara Lokesh, CM while he himself enters national politics. Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandra-sekhar Rao is also being urged by his party to make his son and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao Chief Minister while he moves on to the national stage, and the CM has indicated in the past that he will play a key role at the centre after the 2019 elections.
Both Chief Ministers are confident of retaining power in the Assembly elections next year. According to sources in the TRS, Mr Rao will contest from Gajwel for the Assembly elections and from Medak for the Parliamentary elections.
The TRS’s main rival, the Congress party, has no strong candidate in Medak and unless there is a strong anti-BJP and TRS wave, it will be very difficult for the Congress to win the Medak Lok Sabha seat.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, TD sources said, may contest the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat which is a Kamma stronghold. Mr Naidu could also contest for Assembly from the a constituency which comes under Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat.
There is also a possibility that Mr Naidu will contest the Assembly elections and afterwards may become a Rajya Sabha MP. Mr Rao wants a non-BJP and non-Congress government at the Centre. Mr Naidu believes that the BJP will not get a majority in the Lok Sabha elections. Both CMs believe regional parties will play a key role in forming the government at the Centre in 2019. If this happens they could make their sons CMs (if their parties win the Assembly polls) and move on to the national stage.
