Contest for RS seat inevitable in TS
TRS has required strength, all its candidates will be elected
Filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections was completed on Monday and in Telangana, a contest is inevitable while in Andhra Pradesh it will be unanimous.
For the three Rajya Sabha seats in Telangana, four candidates filed nominations: from the TRS, they are J. Santosh Kumar, B. Lingaiah Yadav and B. Prakash Mudiraj and from the Congress, former Union minister Balaram Naik.
AP has three Rajya Sabha seats. Sitting MP CM. Ramesh and Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar of the TD filed their nominations and from the YSR Congress, Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy. All three will be elected unanimously. The last date for withdrawing nominations is March 15.
In TS, the Congress does not have the required strength to elect its Rajya Sabha candidate while the TRS has the required strength and all its three candidates will be elected.
In addition to this, the MIM which has 7 MLAs has extended its support to the TRS. To elect each Rajya Sabha candidate the support of 30 MLAs is required; the Congress has only 12 MLAs.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday asked the lone CPM MLA, S. Rajaiah, to support its candidate. Mr Rajaiah replied that his party will take a decision. The BJP has four MLAs and the TD has two, but they will obviously not support a Congress candidate.