Chief Minister and ruling president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had finalised the list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled in March this year. There are three seats falling vacant in April this year for which elections are to be held in March.
YSR Congress member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, BJP member C M Ramesh and TDP member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar are retiring on April 2, 2024. Elections to fill these three seats will be held in March from the State Assembly.
The YSR Congress had sought the disqualification of four MLAs and two MLCs, who have switched over to the other parties to make sure that they don’t vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. Assembly speaker Thammineni Sitharam and Legislative Council chairman Koyye Moshen Raju are likely to take a decision this week on the membership of these MLAs and MLCs.
While setting the ground perfect, Jagan Mohan Reddy had set his eyes on the candidates for the three seats. This time, the chief minister is said to have cleared the name of TTD former chairman and former Ongole MP, Y V Subba Reddy, for one seat. Subba Reddy had been asking for the Rajya Sabha seat for several years and finally his dream had come true.
The chief minister had also cleared the name of Polavaram MLA T Balaraju for the second seat. Balaraju is an SC candidate and the chief minister had decided against fielding him for this time. The chief minister had told Balaraju that he would not be given the ticket. Instead, the chief minister had named his wife Bhagyalakshmi for the seat.
Sources say that the chief minister had also cleared the name of Chittoor MLA Arani Srinivasulu’s name for the third seat. Srinivasulu is a BC candidate representing the strong Balija community, which has a considerable number of votes in the Rayalaseema region.
