Hyderabad: By announcing the two candidates from the TRS for the two Rajya Sabha seats, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao has pre-empted any moves by a section from the Congress to exert pressure on him to spare one seat for retiring member V. Hanumantha Rao.
Mr Hanumantha Rao has been camping in Delhi for the past couple of days and has even met AICC president Sonia Gandhi and requested her to speak to the TRS chief to reciprocate the Congress gesture of backing the TRS candidate in 2014.
Mr Hanumantha Rao is now banking on this gesture and lobbying to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for the fourth time. He has requested TPCC senior leaders N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and K. Jana Reddy to propose his name for the Rajya Sabha polls so that AICC would officially announce it.
When contacted, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “I have forwarded a report to the AICC recommending Hanumantha Rao’s name for the RS polls. There were no other applicants. It is now up to the AICC to consider his candidature.” The TPCC chief, to take stock of the RS poll situation, has called a Congress Legislature Party meeting for May 28.
However, Mr Jana Reddy is of the view that when there are no numbers to ensure a RS seat, the party should not risk losing face by proposing a candidate.
Speaking to DC from Delhi on Thursday, Mr Hanumantha Rao said, “If AICC officially announces my name, I will somehow convince KCR to spare one seat. I have already requested Soniajii regarding this, I am going to meet her again tomorrow.” However, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s announcement of Thursday is bound to leave the senior Congress leader deeply disappointed.
