For quite some time, the YSR Congress party has been facing the allegations from the Telugu Desam Party of being a puppet in the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Though the YSRC leaders have been denying the same, the TDP has been successful in sowing the seeds of suspicion in the minds of the people.
Now, the YSRC got an opportunity to prove that it is not a supporter of the BJP.
On Tuesday, YSRC parliamentary party leader and Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy announced that his party MPs would vote against the BJP/NDA candidate in the elections to Rajya Sabha deputy chairman post to be held on August 9.
While the BJP is not contesting the elections directly, it has announced that Janata Dal (United) candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh would be contesting on behalf of the NDA. But Sai Reddy said the YSRC would vote against him, since the party felt the NDA government had betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh by denying special category status.
This will largely help the YSRC to get out of the pro-BJP stigma. The party has already declared that there would be no alliances with any party in 2019 elections and that it will go alone in the polls.
It would take a call on which party it would support in the post-poll scenario depending on the assurance on the special category status.
On the other hand, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has indicated that it might support the NDA candidate in the elections to RS deputy chairperson post.
The chief minister’s office issued a statement saying Bihar chief minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar personally called Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar seeking support to his party candidate Harivansh Narayan.
However, the chief minister said that he would take a decision after discussing with the party leaders. Indications are that the TRS MPs might vote for the JD (U) candidate or if possible, stay away from polling to avoid embarrassment.