Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister is understood to have backtracked on his plan to field a candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, as he was not confident of mobilising the support of enough number of rebel YSR Congress party MLAs.
There were reports that the TDP chief was contemplating fielding a candidate either from his party or from the Bharatiya Janata Party if the latter joins the TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance, banking on the support of a good number of YSRCP MLAs, who are being denied tickets to contest the elections.
Sources said he had spoken to a few disgruntled YSRCP MLAs but the response was not very encouraging. Though some of them had promised to extend support, others were still apprehensive over shifting loyalties to the TDP.
“Ultimately, Naidu has realised that he might not get enough number of YSRCP MLAs to vote for the TDP or the BJP candidate. At present, he has only 18 MLAs in the House and he requires at least another 26 MLAs to vote for the fourth candidate in RS polls,” sources said.
Even the support from four rebel YSRCP MLAs – Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Vundavalli Sridevi, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy and Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy – may not be forthcoming, as they are all set to be disqualified in two or three days.
State assembly speaker Tammineni Seetharam, who already had a talk with these four rebel MLAs, sent them notices again to appear before him on February 12. In all probability, he will disqualify them on the same day or a day later, making them ineligible to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections.
So, there is no hope of Naidu getting even their support. Maybe, because of all these developments, Naidu has decided against fielding the candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections.