Hyderabad: Ending speculation over the names of probable candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, Telugu Desam president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu nominated Union minister Y.S. Chowdary (Sujana Chowdary) and industrialist and former minister from Kurnool T.G. Venkatesh on Monday. He also announced TD support for the BJP nominee, railway minister Suresh Prabhu as the third candidate from the alliance.
The BJP national leadership on Monday evening cleared the name of Mr Prabhu from AP. The selection of Mr Chowdary for a second term was a foregone conclusion. Mr Naidu said Mr Chowdary had fought against bifurcation of AP state in the Rajya Sabha on every occasion. Mr Naidu said he was nominated from the backward Rayalaseema to ensure balance between the regions.
Suspense still continues on whether the TD will support an independent to file papers on Tuesday, hoping for a largescale shift of votes from YSR Congress MLAs who defected to the ruling party. While Mr Naidu had lengthy consultations with these YSRC MLAs, they could not come to a conclusion on whether to field a fourth candidate or not. Replying to a specific question, Mr Naidu declined to give a straight reply and said, “It will be anyway known to you tomorrow, I don’t know what the MLAs who have joined TD are going to decide.”
Chandrababu Naidu makes fun of ticket for Vijay Sai
Telugu Desam president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu ridiculed the YSRC’s nomination of party general secretary Vijay Sai Reddy, saying, “Jagan (YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is the Accused No. 1 in all corruption cases and Vijay Sai is the Accused No. 2. I don’t know but Jagan may send all the accused as Rajya Sabha nominees hereafter.”
Mr Vijay Sai Reddy has filed his papers. If ultimately there is no independent candidate the election on June 11 will be unanimous.
In Telangana state, Chief Minister N. Chandrasekhar Rao has nominated D. Srinivas and Capt. V. Lakshmikantha Rao (retd) for the two RS seats. The election in all certainty will be unanimous. All the candidates will file their nominations on Tuesday.
