The release of the schedule for elections to the Legislative Council to fill six seats from Assembly constituency has triggered intense political activity in Telangana.
The number of ticket aspirants is highest in TRS, which is sure to win four seats as it had a tally of 75 members in the Assembly, while each contesting candidate has to poll over 18 votes. But, two TRS seats are almost reserved for Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari and Roads & Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao as they have to be elected to the Upper House in any case. The name of Prof. Srinivas Reddy, who was associated with the TRS office affairs since the beginning, was prominently heard for the third seat, but it’s a guessing game in the case of the fourth seat which is claimed by defectors from Congress and TDP.
Sources said the TRS is also eyeing the fifth seat with the support of BJP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, but either of them was sure to back out on ideological grounds if the other party extended support. They added that TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao would like to take the BJP on board to win the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but it was unlikely given the latter party’s existing alliance with the TDP.
The BJP and TDP were trying to sort out which party should contest since Monday, but the matter remained unresolved. It was stated that TDP stood a better chance of contesting as the party had supported the BJP in Council election from graduates’ constituency a few months ago. The BJP leadership was also aware that TDP was on a stronger footing with 11 MLAs, but did not want to give up its own claim without negotiating whether it would be allotted a seat at least in Andhra Pradesh where four seats from MLAs quota are going to polls.
On the Congress front, the Telangana Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy was likely to take the list of aspirants in the party to the high command on May 16 or 17. Among them are former Ministers D. Srinivas and Ponnala Laxmaiah but, sources said, the party was keen on woman candidates belonging to backward classes in which case the favourites pointed were Mr. Laxmaiah’s daughter-in-law Vaishali, former MLA Akula Lalitha and Nerella Sharada, who took over as women’s wing president in the committee.
The support of parties having one MLA each – CPI, CPI (M) and YSR Congress – was crucial for TRS victory if it wanted to contest the fifth seat. But the victory would largely depend on second preference votes.
