Ending the suspense and the confusion, Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday announced Y.S. Chowdary, industrialist, and Gundu Sudha Rani, floor leader of the party in Warangal Municipal Corporation, as the candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Mr. Naidu justified his choice, especially of Mr. Chowdary, chairman of the Sujana group of industries. Snubbing all those who opposed his candidature, he said he knew best who had worked for the party.
He said Ms. Rani was chosen as she represented women and hailed from Padmashali, a BC community who lost in the 2004 Assembly elections from Warangal district. Ensuring that all the aspirants were present at the press conference, he said it was a collective decision taken after elaborate discussion in Polit Bureau and holding wide-ranging consultations. They included K. Yerran Naidu, Y. Ramakrishnudu, K. Ramamohan Rao, T. Devender Goud and C.M. Ramesh. The only aspirant who was not present was Garikapati Mohan Rao. Surprisingly, if the candidature of Mr. Chowdary was vehemently opposed on Wednesday, it was the turn of Mr. Goud on Thursday.
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Some wondered how Mr. Goud could be considered when he had quit the party, mounted a vitriolic attack on Mr. Naidu and lost elections. It was then that he settled for Ms. Rani. But sources said Mr. Naidu was hardly left with any options after selecting Mr. Chowdary from Andhra/Rayalaseema regions.
This was because of his prior decision to nominate Kamma and BC candidates from Andhra/Rayalaseema and Telangana regions.