Kovind will visit Telugu states, Naidu, KCR plan grand reception
The NDA presidential candidate is expected to get an overwhelming majority in the electoral college of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with TDP, TRS, YSR Congress endorsing him.
The National Democratic Aliance’s presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind will begin his campaign in the Telugu states from Tuesday in Hyderabad. Although he is expected to get an overwhelming majority in the electoral college that includes all the MPs and MLAs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he will meet the supporting legislators separately in Hyderabad and Amaravati due to the differences between the KCR led Telangana Rashtra Samithi and N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party.
Telangana Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao is planning a grand reception for Kovind in Hyderabad, in tune with the sentiments of the BJP’s top brass, by hosting a breakfast meeting at his Begumpet based official residence, Pragati Patham. KCR has invited the TRS MPs and MLAs for an ice-breaking with Kovind. They include not only the 62 MLAs and 11 MPs who had been elected on TRS ticket but also the 28 MLAs and three MPs who defected to it later.
TRS spokesperson and MLC Palla Rajeswara Redddy told this newspaper, “Our CM will lead the entire Cabinet and party leaders on the occasion.”
KCR, who had been camping in New Delhi since 23 June, was present when Kovind filed his nomination. He even postponed his scheduled eye surgery to be around at the time of Kovind’s visit to Hyderabad.
However, Kovind will be meeting the BJP and TDP MLAs separately in Hyderabad. The five legislators and Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and three MLAs of TDP will separately meet Kovind at his hotel in the city. With this, Kovind will secure the support of 98 out of 119 MLAs and 15 out of 17 MPs in Telangana. The value of an MLA’s vote is 132, while that of an MP’s vote is 708.
Sources close to the CM told this newspaper that KCR decided to back Kovind not before he had had a couple of rounds of talks with the BJP’s top leadership in New Delhi in the last six days and had put forth his set of demands—creation of a separate high court for the state and solving several demands pending with the Centre and increasing the number of Assembly seats as per the AP Reorganization Act, 2014.
Kovind will get a similar reception in Andhra Pradesh where he is expected to bag a massive majority as all the 174 MLAs—27 of TDP and 47 of YSR Congress—in the Assembly and all the 25 Lok Sabha MPs—17 from TDP and eight from YSR Congress. Kovind will also get nine out of 11 Rajya Sabha MPs’ votes in AP, where an MLA’s vote is valued at 156, while an MP’s vote is valued at 708.
YSR Congress MPs and MLAs will meet Kovind separately before he proceeds for a lunch meeting at Chandrababu Naidu’s camp office in Amaravati. Kovind will dine with the BJP lawmakers in Bangalore at night.
Union Ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Chowdary and all the MPs and MLAs will be present at Naidu’s lunch to extend their support to Kovind. Two BJP ministers and two MLAs and two MLCs will be invited to the meeting where Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu will be present. BJP leaders are planning a rally for Kovind in Vijayawada.
The YSR Congress leaders led by Jagan Mohan Reddy are planning a separate meeting with Kovind in Vijayawada. Party sources said that they were planning to submit a memorandum to Kovind on various issues pertaining to AP. “We will vote for Kovind, but will not go to the lunch meeting of the CM,” said YSR Congress spokesman Ambati Rambabu.
YSR Congress parliamentary party leader Mekapati Raja Mohan Reddy was present at the filing of the fourth set of nomination by Kovind on Wednesday. Later, Reddy praised Kovind as an able person to occupy the constitutional head position.
Contrary to the high voltage campaign by Kovind, Congress led opposition candidate Meira Kumar is likely to get a low key reception, when she visits Hyderabad and Vijayawada on Monday. In Hyderabad, she will meet 13 MLAs, one Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha MPs of the Congress and one CPM MLA. She is expected to get the votes of seven MLAs and one MP from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, but it is not clear where they will meet her.
There is an air of uncertainty over the support of AIMIM to Kumar, as the party leaders were not present at the time of her filing the nomination on Wednesday.
Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan are among the probable candidates that the BJP led National Democratic Alliance may pick as its nominee for the post of Vice President, for which elections are due on 5 August.
Though the BJP’s top brass is still engaged with the President poll campaign, sources in the party from Hyderabad told this newspaper the above mentioned names are being considered for the second highest constitutional post in the country.
A decision on the VP candidate will be taken by the BJP’s Parliamentary Board as was done in the case of its Presidential nominee, although the decision makers will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, the sources said. Sources who have access to the party’s top brass in New Delhi said that several names are being considered.
Since the NDA has picked its Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind from Uttar Pradesh, the choice of Vice President is likely to be from South India, the sources said. In that case, several prominent persons from five southern states— Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala—are likely to come up for discussion.
Venkaiah Naidu stands a fair chance of being considered for the post. He is a fourth term Rajya Sabha MP, thrice from Karnataka since 1998 and currently from Rajasthan. Naidu worked as a senior leader in the BJP and was its national president twice between 2002 and 2004. He was also a two-term MLA from Nellore district in AP in 1978 and 1983.
Venkaiah turned 68 on Saturday, 1 July and he is keen on leaving active politics after his current RS term ends in 2022. A senior BJP leader who shared his views on Venkaiah Naidu told this newspaper that the only obstacle in Venkaiah’s elevation is that PM Modi does not want to lose the services of senior Cabinet colleagues at this stage.
“Venkaiah is very active in the Modi led BJP government and is driving some of the flagship schemes of the government like Smart Cities and is acting as a troubleshooter for the ruling party at the national level. But given his vast experience in the Rajya Sbha and eminence in the party, he is a strong contender,” said the BJP leader who is also an MLA.
Interestingly, the names of Narasimhan and Rao are also being speculated on. Vidyasagar Rao is a Sangh Parivar man who began his public life with its student wing, ABVP in the early 1970s and worked as an active lawyer. He enjoys rapport with the PM and the top brass of the BJP.
Narasimhan has been an IPS officer and he comes from a non-political background. His name is being mentioned to seek the cooperation of the Congress-led Opposition, as he was appointed as AP Governor (Chhattisgarh before that) by the UPA regime a decade ago. When asked about his prospects, Narasimhan said: “Everything depends on God’s will.”
Since the NDA has picked its Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind from Uttar Pradesh, the choice of Vice President is likely to be from South India, sources said.