Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP Banda Prakash resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Saturday. His resignation was accepted by House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.
On Tuesday, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao nominated Mr. Prakash to the Legislative Council along with five others.
Mr. Prakash was to retire in April, 2024. According to sources, Mr. Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha, whose term as MLC would expire in January, could be nominated in his place.
ADVERTISEMENT
His nomination to the Council is also linked to the TRS’s humiliating defeat in the Huzurabad bypoll where party turncoat Eatala Rajender had won on the BJP ticket. Mr. Prakash and Mr. Rajender belong to the Mudiraj community. Sources claim that he is likely to be inducted in the Cabinet in the next reshuffle to win over the community.
The bypoll result has spurred the TRS to distance itself from the BJP. Mr. Prakash told The Hindu that though the party had sided with the BJP on many controversial legislations in Parliament, the ruling party has done precious little in return for Telangana. The TRS, in the ongoing winter session, has firmly placed itself with the Opposition bloc. In both the Houses, they have been protesting against the Central Government’s paddy procurement policy.