Hyderabad: YSR Congress leader Venumbaka Vijay Sai Reddy on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha seat from Andhra Pradesh.
Shortly after YSRC president and Leader of the Opposition in the AP Assembly Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy convened a meeting of party leaders and legislators and conveyed the decision of fielding him, Mr Vijay Sai Reddy, along with party MLAs reached the Assembly premised and filed his nomination papers.
This was the first nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls for the four seats from AP.
Announcing his name, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Mr Vijay Sai Reddy had stood by his side like a rock and disclosed only the truth even when CBI sleuths tried to exert pressure on him and also enticed him by trying to get him to turn “approver” in the cases foisted against him.
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The YSRC, which has the strength of 67 MLAs on record, has lost 17 MLAs to defections. The remaining 50 MLAs are more than sufficient to ensure Mr Vijay Sai Reddy’s victory since a minimum of 36 votes are required for a candidate to be declared winner in the first round of counting itself.
Much depends on the ruling TD, which had earlier said it would not allow Mr Vijay Sai Reddy, the co-accused in all the criminal cases filed against Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, to enter the Rajya Sabha.
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If the TD announced only three candidates, the elections would be unanimous.
The last date for filing of nominations is May 31, which being Tuesday, is considered inauspicious. It is expected that the TD will name its candidates on Sunday so that they can file their papers the next day.
