Hyderabad: Buoyed by positive results in favour of the TD in Nandyal and Kakinada, now TD leaders are confident of defeating main Opposition YSRC in the coming Rajya Sabha biennial polls going to be held in March.
Chief Minister and TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have given a green signal when party leaders conveyed him the strategy to defeat YSRC candidates.
Unlike the previous Rajya Sabha polls, when four candidates used to be sent to the Upper house from Andhra Pradesh, in 2018 biennial polls, there will be only three vacancies due to distribution of 18 Rajya Sabha seats allotted to united AP in the ratio of 11:7 between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State. A minimum of 44 MLAs need to support for electing one Rajya Sabha member.
After the spate of defections from the YSRC, now the party’s strength in AP Assembly has reduced to 46 from 67. The present strength is enough for the party to send one candidate to the Rajya Sabha. But according to Telugu Desam’s key sources, six MLAs from the YSRC are being lured to shift their loyalties afresh so as to reduce the main opposition’s strength to below 40, so that its candidate cannot secure the requisite number to get elected. After 2014 Assembly elections, biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha were held only once in 2016 and the YSRC was able to send V. Vijay Sai Reddy as an RS member.
“This time it won’t happen, we will see that the YSRC cannot win,” the TD source declared.
By March, 2018, three Rajya Sabha members allotted under Andhra Pradesh State quota — actor Chiranjeevi, former Union Minister Renuka Chowdary (Congress) and former Home Minister in combined AP T. Devender Gowd (TD) — are retiring and TD member. C.M. Ramesh, belonging to Andhra Pradesh, is also retiring from Telangana State quota.
According to TD source, the party will be able to ensure all the three seats are elected by TD nominees, as present strength comprising TD, BJP and defected YSRC legislators put together reached 130.
‘We will be selective this time in taking YSRC MLAs though we have information that over 15 are in touch with our leaders to switch sides,” the TD source revealed.
