Hyderabad:The elections for two Rajya Sabha members from Telangana, nominations for which will close on Thursday, could see the BRS throwing its hat in the ring, though the party clearly has little prospect of ensuring victory in the face of overwhelming one-sided voting that is expected.
While the BRS has been officially tight-lipped about its participation in the election, it is learnt that it is not averse to stirring the pot and forcing voting for the two seats falling vacant with the terms of Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress and K.R. Suresh Reddy of the BRS coming to an end.
It may be recalled that the BRS had also considered fielding a candidate during the 2024 bypoll to the Rajya Sabha following the resignation of its member K. Keshava Rao, who subsequently joined the Congress.
While the Congress had then fielded Singhvi, the BRS, smarting from its loss of a member in the upper house of Parliament, had hinted at contesting the byelection but eventually dropped the idea after concluding that it could avoid another defeat following its Assembly and Lok Sabha losses. This paved the way for Singhvi to be elected unopposed.
The BRS, which has 37 MLAs on paper, cannot muster the required 41 votes to retain its Rajya Sabha seat. The BJP has 8 MLAs, while the AIMIM has 7 members in the Assembly.
The Congress, on the other hand, with 66 members of its own along with support from one MLA from the CPI, can easily win the first seat and, using second preference votes, secure the second as well.
However, the real strength of the BRS is just 28 members, with Gudem Mahipal Reddy—one of the 10 BRS MLAs who had aligned with the Congress—recently returning to the BRS fold.
“The BRS is aware that it cannot win, but it would not be a bad idea to force voting and give some work for the Congress to ensure its nominees win. The party will have to organise voting, appoint overseers, and if nothing else, filing a nomination could cause a bit of scurrying around by the Congress,” a BRS leader said.
Asked about whether the BRS will field a candidate, senior party leader T. Harish Rao said the party “has not taken any decision as on Wednesday, adding that there is still time tomorrow.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
