It is long time one has heard about former Union minister J D Seelam, who was once considered to be a close confidant of AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
The Karnataka-cadre Dalit IAS officer from Guntur quit his job to enter politics and got elected to the Rajya Sabha twice – in 2004 and 2010.
He held an important portfolio of Minister of State for Finance during the UPA-II regime. After the Congress lost its glory and existence in Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation of combined state, Seelam virtually went into political oblivion like many other Congress leaders.
Now, there have been reports from the corridors of power that Seelam is making rounds in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat at Velagapudi in Amaravati these days.
Not that he has any official work in the Secretariat; but he is desperate to meet chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Sources said he has been sending feelers to Naidu through his Telugu Desam Party friends in Guntur district that he is interested in joining the party.
However, there has been no positive response from Naidu so far. He knows that if he takes Seelam into the TDP, the latter would naturally expect some post in the party, since he had served in the Central cabinet.
At the same time, his entry would not bring any additional political benefits to the TDP. So, Naidu is hesitant to take him in.
However, the TDP leaders are trying to convince the chief minister that Seelam’s entry would definitely help divert at least some percentage of Dalit Christian votes towards the TDP, sources said.
