The Telugu Desam Party has the chance to win just two seats in the Rajya Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on March 23. But more than a dozen candidates from all communities and castes are in race for the two seats.
While TDP president and chief minster N Chandrababu Naidu is planning to allocate one seat to either BC or SC, candidates from the Kamma and Reddy communities are fighting for the second seat.
For the weaker sections, party seniors like Varla Ramaiah, B Ravichandra Yadav, Masala Padma and Jupudi Prabhakar Rao are in the fray and Naidu might not face much difficulty in picking up one of them.
However, the problem is with the other seat.
While outgoing RS member C M Ramesh is making intense lobbying to get the seat for the second consecutive term, other Kamma leader Kambhampati Rammohan Rao is also trying his luck by camping in Amaravati. Media baron and Naidu’s close friend V Radhakrishna is also learnt to have thrown his hat into the ring.
On the other hand, a strong Reddy lobby is also said to be bringing pressure on Naidu. Their argument is that the TDP has already got the stigma of being a pro-Kammma party, but it needs to encourage a Reddy, that too, from Rayalaseema to counter the YSRC in the next elections. It is learnt senior leader Reddappagari Srinivas Reddy from Kadapa might get the lucky chance.
Srinivas Reddy, who unsuccessfully contested on TDP ticket from Kadapa LS constituency last time, has been the district TDP president since then.
He was instrumental in bringing C Adinarayana Reddy from YSRC into the TDP and has good equations with the Reddy community in the district.
Naidu might prefer him to send to Rajya Sabha and in the next elections, Adinarayana Reddy would be fielded from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, say party sources.
