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The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) looks certain to bag the two Rajya Sabha seats from the new State, elections for which are scheduled on June 11.
The party has finalised its candidates in veteran politician D Srinivas and V Laxmikantha Rao, an ex-serviceman considered close to Chief Minister and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Smooth sailing Currently, the TRS has a lone MP in the Upper House in K Keshava Rao, a former Congress General Secretary and AICC member, who joined the TRS before the 2014 elections.
With a strength of 88 in the 119-member Legislative Assembly, TRS candidates are expected to have a smooth sailing in the elections.
Vacancies The vacancies arose following the retirement of V Hanumantha Rao of the Congress and Gundu Sudha Rani, a former TDP member who defected to the TRS earlier in 2015.
Hailing from Nizamabad district, Srinivas, former State Congress chief and Minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, had lost the elections in 2014.
However, on joining the TRS in 2015, he was given the role of an adviser on inter-State issues with Cabinet rank by the Chief Minister.
With over four decades of political experience, Srinivas, who belongs to the backward classes (BC) is expected to leverage his contacts in Delhi’s political circles for the regional party. The other candidate,Laxmikantha Rao, who hails from Karimnagar district, is a close relative of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and a loyalist of the Chief Minister.
He stood by KCR right through the separate Statehood movement and belongs to the Brahmin community.
The TRS had won around 63 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections to come to power. However, over the last two years, a strategy of consolidation saw it win over 25 legislators belonging to the TDP, Congress, YSR Congress and independents.
Weak Opposition The opposition parties in Telangana are in complete disarray. The TDP, which won 15 seats, is left with a couple, while the Congress, which got 20 seats, now has just over a dozen.
The MIM, with seven, has a solid block. Under these circumstances, political analysts say a combined Opposition candidate has little chance of being elected.
Despite the odds, Hanumantha Rao, a two-time Rajya Sabha MP and a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, has launched his bid to seek a re-election.
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