There is anticipation and anxiety in the TRS circles over the MLC elections in Telangana. The notification will be issued on Tuesday for the six vacancies in the council. The last date for filing of nominations is November 16. However, the victory of the TRS candidates is a foregone conclusion as the TRS has an unassailable majority in the assembly.

The TRS has 103 MLAs. Its ally MIM has seven. The total votes of TRS are 110. The Congress has six seats and the BJP has three seats. To get an MLC, one needs ten votes. So there is no possibility of an opposition candidate becoming an MLC as even the combined strength of the Opposition is one less than the minimum votes required.

The only point of interest is who will be nominated to the council. As of now, the names of former deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari, former speaker Sirikonda Madhusudana Chary, Warangal’s Ravinder Rao, former Telangana TDP president LV Ramana, former chairperson of the legislative council Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Padi Kaushik Reddy, Kotireddy of Nagarjua Sagar and Dalit leader Errolla Srinivas are in circulation. Six of them would be nominated.

In Andhra Pradesh too, a similar situation exists There are three seats up for grabs and the YSRCP has a complete dominance in the assembly. It can easily win all the three seats. The election is merely of an academic interest.

As the elections are approaching, the doubts are being clarified on the true nature of links between Jaganmohan Reddy and Telangana CM Chandrasekhar Rao. There is speculation that the YCP is a sleeping partner in KCR’s Federal Front and that Jagan is the only regional leader who is dancing to the tunes of TRS boss. Moreover, there are also rumours that it is PM Modi who is behind KCR’s Federal Front which is aimed solely at dividing the anti-Congress vote banks.

In the past few weeks, election consultant Prashant Kishor’s team is camping in Hyderabad only to supervise the selection and distribution of MP tickets in both Telangana and AP. PK is known for his active links with PM Modi and he previously worked for the victory of the BJP.

Now it is confirmed that KCR and Jagan are mainly focused on winning maximum MP seats so as to impress upon PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. This is the reason why the YCP MP candidates are selected only after final approval from KCR and Prashant Kishor from Hyderabad. KCR and Jagan have promised to get maximum MP seats out of the total 17 in Telangana and 25 in AP to help Modi in future government formation.