Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has more or less decided to field the fourth candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on June 11, though his party can officially win only three seats as per its strength in the Assembly.
However, sources said the fourth candidate will not be an official TDP nominee, but would have to contest as an independent.
While the TDP would support his candidature by pledging the votes of remaining TDP MLAs, after adjusting the votes of MLAs to the official TDP and BJP nominees, the independent candidates would have to “mobilise” the support of other MLAs to win the fourth seat.
At present, 17 YSR Congress party MLAs have shifted their loyalties to the TDP and two more MLAs are expected to follow the suit in a couple of days.
In order to defeat the official YSRC nominee, the fourth candidate requires another 15 MLAs. So, it is his responsibility to “buy” their votes. Whoever has the capacity to spend money can take the fourth seat.
At present, two candidates are in fray for the fourth seat and both of them are capable of spending money to buy the votes of rival party MLAs. They are: T G Venkatesh from Kurnool and Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy from Nellore. Both are industrialists with political backing. And it all depends on their purchasing capacity!
