The ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh will contest three out of four seats in the Rajya Sabha, whose elections are scheduled to be held on June 18, while leaving the fourth seat to its alliance partner – the Jana Sena Party.
The decision was taken at a meeting of leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of Andhra Pradesh held at the camp office of TDP president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Undavalli in Amaravati on Thursday evening.
The meeting was attended by Jana Sena chief and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, his party’s political affairs committee chairman, minister Nadendla Manohar, TDP state president Bala Srinivasa Rao and BJP state president BVN Madhav.
The four vacancies have arisen due to the completion of the tenure of four Rajya Sabha members – Parimal Nathwani, Bili Subhash Chandrabose, YSR Congress’ Alla Rami Reddy and TDP’s Sana Satish Babu.
Notification of elections for these four seats will be issued on June 1, while the last date for submission of nominations is June 8. Voting, if necessary, will be held on June 18.
Since the FDP and its coalition partners represent 164 of the 175 seats in the state assembly, they are expected to win all four seats unopposed. The YSRCP, which has only 11 multi-party political parties, cannot field its candidate and will lose all three of its seats to the TDP-led alliance.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bala Srinivasa Rao said the NDA leadership unanimously approved the Rajya Sabha seat-sharing formula under which the TDP will contest three of the four seats while the Jana Sena will field one candidate. “The party will announce the names of the three candidates soon,” Rao said.
Manohar said his party president Pawan Kalyan will finalize the candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat allotted to him as part of the seat-sharing formula.
BJP state president Madhav said the seat-sharing formula for the Rajya Sabha elections in AP has been decided at the BJP central leadership in consultation with the Chief Minister in Delhi. “On previous occasions, the BJP has bagged two Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh. In any case, the election of TDP and Jana Sena MPs will also be seen as a representation of the BJP within the broader NDA framework,” he said.
The coalition partners meeting also decided to launch a large-scale public awareness program to communicate development and welfare initiatives being implemented by the governments led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Center and Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.
As part of the campaign, the alliance will organize major public meetings in three major cities: Tirupati on June 9 focusing on social welfare programmes, Amravati on June 12 to highlight governance and administration reforms, and Visakhapatnam on June 15 to highlight development initiatives and infrastructural growth.
“The campaign will then be expanded to include district-level programs across the state from June 13 to 20, covering the NDA government’s performance over the past two years,” Bala Srinivasa Rao said.
Manohar said the campaign will focus on 24 major programs and schemes implemented during the 24 months of rule. He added that the Union ministers will also participate in various public meetings and awareness events organized by the NDA partners.
Responding to the political developments and criticism from opposition parties, Madhav asserted that the BJP, TDP and Jana Sena remain united and committed to working together.
“We will stay together and continue to work as one team,” he said, reiterating the NDA’s commitment to the unity of the alliance ahead of upcoming political engagements.
