Telugu Desam plumps for Sujana, TGV; BJP picks Suresh Prabhu
Ending the suspense, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced Telugu Desam candidates — Union Minister of State, Y. S. (Sujana) Chowdary and former Minister T. G. Venkatesh —for the Rajya Sabha elections, while the third one has been allotted to the BJP, which has nominated Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
All three would file their nominations before the AP Legislative Assembly Secretary in Hyderabad on Tuesday, the last day of filing papers. The TDP preferred to re-nominate Mr. Chowdary, who is regarded as close to Mr. Naidu. With the TDP almost deciding against fielding the fourth candidate, these three and the fourth one from the YSRC— V. Vijay Sai Reddy are likely to be declared elected, in accordance with vote share and strength of the two parties in the Assembly.
Apparently, the TDP deliberately created hype over the fourth candidate just to keep the YSRC on tenterhooks, a move it wants to continue till Tuesday evening. This was hinted at by Mr. Naidu himself when he said the decision to field the fourth candidate has been left to the 17 YSRC MLAs, who defected to TDP. One of them —Mr. Jaleel Khan —claimed that several YSRC MLAs were in touch with this group and were not inclined to vote for Mr. Vijay Sai Reddy.
At the media briefing after a day-long discussion with party seniors and TDP legislators and then with the 17 YSRC MLAs, Mr. Naidu said Mr. Chowdary and Mr. Venkatesh were selected keeping in view the interests of the State. Mr. Naidu was critical of the YSRC’s choice, saying it was like “accused Number 1 in 11 charge sheets nominating accused Number 2.” Interestingly, Mr. Prabhu’s selection became public much before Mr. Naidu made the announcement with Union Minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu tweeting it : “I am happy that my friend, Sri @sureshpprabhu is filing nomination to RS from Andhra Pradesh … Thanks to TDP for supporting him . I hope his election from AP will be beneficial to the state”.
There is no word from either the BJP or the TDP on shifting of Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from A.P. to Karnataka, though she herself appeared surprised.
Reiterating the request for according Special Category Status to the State, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said Read more
The Andhra Pradesh government is considering an offer of $1 million as the first prize in a competition for the Read more
