As the nomination process for the by-elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh begins today, the Telugu Desam Party led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is understood to have finalised the names of industrialist Sana Satish and Beeda Mastan Rao.
The third seat is learnt to have been given to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has reportedly decided to field prominent BC leader R Krishnaiah again.
The three seats have fallen vacant following the resignation of Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, Beeda Mastan Rao and R Krishnaiah after they quit the YSR Congress party. Of them, Beeda and Krishnaiah are all set to be back in the Upper House on TDP and BJP tickets.
Though it was speculated that Naidu would allocate the third seat to Jana Sena Party, which was expected to field its general secretary Naga Babu, but the latter opted out of the race, following the BJP’s request to Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan to leave the seat for it.
At the same time, Naga Babu was also not interested in entering the Rajya Sabha, citing its short tenure and preference for direct election into the legislature.
There was also a talk that Naidu would field either veteran Ashok Gajapathi Raju or Galla Jayadev for the Rajya Sabha polls. But for some reason, he finalised industrialist Sana Satish.
R Krishnaiah's name has emerged as the BJP's likely candidate, replacing earlier speculation around Galla Jayadev. Political developments indicate that the BJP is keen to secure representation from Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.
The NDA coalition currently holds the strength of 164 members in Andhra Pradesh, ensuring its dominance in securing all three Rajya Sabha seats.