Chief Minister of Bihar and leader of the Janata Dal (United) Nitish Kumar called Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao over the phone on Tuesday and sought Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) support for his party candidate Harivansh Narayana Singh contesting the election for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson post.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office here, Mr. Nitish Kumar requested the support of the TRS, which has six members in the upper house of Parliament. Responding to Mr. Nitish Kumar’s request, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao told the former that he would discuss the issue with his party colleagues and take a decision.
Meanwhile, sources in the TRS stated that the party was likely to extend support to the JD (U) candidate, particularly in the backdrop of improvement in the TRS government’s relations with the NDA government at the Centre led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The JD (U) candidate for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson post is backed by the BJP and several other constituent parties of the NDA.
It is stated that the JD (U) candidates needs the support of some non-NDA parties to romp home in the election as there has been uncertainty over the support of some NDA partners to the BJP-supported candidate.
In the recent no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government moved by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the TRS abstained from voting, inviting criticism by the Congress and other opposition parties that the TRS was supporting the BJP indirectly. Although TRS members who spoke in the two houses of Parliament on the no-confidence motion supported special category status to Andhra Pradesh, they also wanted the same to be extended to Telangana if the Centre decided positively in the matter.
