Hyderabad: The election for the position of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, which is likely to be a close contest between the NDA led by the BJP and the UPA led by the Congress, will force the hand of three major Telugu regional parties, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Telugu Desam (TD) and the YSR Congress (YSRC) into revealing which of the two national coalitions they would eventually side with.
The election has been necessitated with the incumbent Deputy Chairman of the Upper House, P.J. Kurien of the Congress, completing his term in August, before which the House must elect his successor.
The political stand of the three parties could be known by the party candidate they support, though they could decide to abstain from voting too.
The decision to vote for either national side, or abstain, is likely to be taken by the leaders of these parties just before the election.
The BJP, which has recently emerged as the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha, overtaking the Congress for the first time in Indian political history, with 67 members (including nominated members) in the 250 member House, is setting an eye on the post of the Deputy Chairman.
