Ending days of speculation, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao on Friday decided to field party general secretary K Keshav Rao and former speaker K Suresh Reddy for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Telangana as the term of two MPs KVP Ramachandra Rao and Garikapati Mohan Rao come to an end on April 9.
Surprisingly, Chandrasekhar Rao did not consider the name of his daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha who lost the Lok Sabha seat to the Nizamabad BJP candidate Arvind Dharmapuri in the 2019 elections. There were speculations that Chandrasekhar Rao may give the RS seat as a gift to his daughter on her birthday on March 13, also the last date for filing nominations for the RS seat. Kavita had been keeping away from politics ever since her defeat in the Nizamabad Parliament elections.
K Keshav Rao, KK as he is popularly known among the political circles, has already served as a Rajya Sabha MP for two terms, once from 2006 to 2012 being a Congress party member and one after he joined the TRS, from 2014 till now. The nomination of KK for the second term puts an end to the speculation that there were differences between him and the TRS party president over the TSRTC strike.
K Suresh Reddy, well-educated and known for being soft-spoken, is a four-time MLA from Balkonda, Nizamabad, and the youngest speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He is also the first speaker from Nizamabad to occupy the coveted post of Assembly speaker. A non-controversial, Suresh Reddy got a major break in 1989 when the former chief minister Marri Channa Reddy nominated him from Balkonda constituency.
Party general secretary K Keshav Rao and former speaker K Suresh Reddy are likely to meet Chandrasekhara Rao to thank him for their nomination to Rajya Sabha.
