Barring last hour developments to coincide with the withdrawal of nominations on Monday, election to the Telangana Legislative Council from the Assembly constituency looks like a keen contest with seven candidates of TRS, Congress and Telugu Desam entering the fray to fill six vacancies when the nominations closed on Thursday.
The TRS went ahead and fielded five candidates, banking on the support of members from other parties, though a win was assured for only four. The Congress and Telugu Desam, the latter with the support of its alliance partner BJP, nominated one candidate each.
Justifying fielding the fifth candidate, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, who was one of the candidates to file his nomination on behalf of TRS, said there was no need for the party to indulge in “bargaining” with a view to promote cross voting as MLAs across parties were keen to strengthen the hands of the government to build a ‘golden Telangana’.
His claim was disputed by Leader of Opposition in Assembly K. Jana Reddy who said that the TRS was trying to threaten and lure MLAs of other parties to vote for its candidates. The Congress will approach the court seeking open ballot like in Rajya Sabha to check cross voting.
The seven candidates to file nominations on Thursday were: Mr. Srihari, Roads and Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, Nethi Vidyasagar Rao, K. Yadava Reddy and B. Venkateswarlu (TRS), Akula Lalita (Congress) and Vem Narender Reddy (TDP). Resenting the nomination of Mr. Narender Reddy, an MLC of TDP, Arikela Narsa Reddy whose term expired recently, threatened to quit the party.
The filing of nominations was preceded by hectic consultations between TDP and BJP since early morning. Leaders of the TDP, which did not declare its candidate till the afternoon, rushed to the residence of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in the morning to suggest that the seat be left to the party. Later, Mr. Dattatreya and BJP floor leader in Assembly K. Laxman met TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu at the party office.
