The non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against union minister YS Chowdary has become a hot topic of debate among Rajya Sabha aspirants in Telugu Desam Party. The NBW has come at a time when party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is considering various names for filling the four vacancies from Andhra Pradesh. Elections will be held in May.
Chowaday is retiring from Rajya Sabha in June. He is expecting a renomination as he is the union minister and a strong financial power for the party. If Naidu renominates on the pretext that Chowdary is a sitting minister, he has to think of Nirmala Sitaraman as well, who is also retiring. Of the four seats, TDP is expected to win three seats, while one goes to Opposition YSR party with their present strength. But, from TDP side, there are too many aspirants.
For example Kambampati Rammohan Rao, who is now the special representative of Andhra Pradesh government in New Delhi, is a strong aspirant from Kamma quota. Among others, Rayalaseema industrialist T G Venkatesh is a strong contender. If he is denied Rajya Sabha nomination, there is every possibility for the revival of Rayalaseema injustice movement by Venkatesh. Venkatesh, a protagonist of ‘Capital for Rayalaseema’ movement, has fallen silent for some inexplicable reason. If Rajya Sabha seat is denied, he is certain to sound the war bugle with the demand that Kurnool be announced second capital.
Another aspirant is Ramasubba Reddy, former minister from Jammalamadugu, Kadapa district. Party sources believe that he was promised Rajya Sabha nomination for acquiescing to the admission of C Adinarayana Reddy, YSRC MLA, into party. There is talk that Naidu may accommodate a Kapu leader to appease the community which is on warpath with the TDP. A whisper in the party circles is that nomination of Pawan Kalyan, Jana Sena president, to Rajya Sabha can’t be ruled out. All these compulsions may force Naidu to disqualify as many aspirants as possible with one pretext or the other.
A section in the party strongly believe that Naidu can’t ignore the court case and the arrest warrant against Sujana Chowdary while considering the names for RS nominations. Already, opposition leader Jaganmohan Reddy has been accusing Naidu as a man without character and credibility. While Jagan’s cases were filed by politicians, the case against Chowdary was filed by a Mauritius Bank. It may hurt Naidu’s credibility at international level, is the argument being put forth by Sujana baiters. There has been general opinion among educated against nominating a man who is facing a court case, and Naidu may set Sujana Chowdary aside, to demonstrate to the world that he is ‘strict’ stickler of democratic norms. He may later take Chowdary as his advisor.
But another section discounts this theory and argues that Naidu doesn’t care about the court cases when it comes to Sujana Chowdary. ” Party can’t survive on loyalists alone. It needs people like YS Chowdarys and P Narayanas. Pragmatist Naidu knows this better than anybody. Anyway, YS Chowdary is not convicted in the case yet. He will come out unscathed,” they assert.
