Congress announces its nominees for Rajya Sabha elections from Telangana and Karnataka

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Nominees from Telangana

The election in Telangana is for three seats which are held by the BRS.

If there are only three candidates in the fray, the election becomes unanimous as the number of vacancies is also the same. But if there are more than one, then an election becomes inevitable and in such a case it would be held on 27 February.

The Congress announced the two names on Wednesday, a day ahead of the closure of nominations on 15 February.

Though Renuka Chowdary’s name was no surprise as there has been intense speculation going on that she would be taken into the Upper House, Anil Kumar Yadav’s choice was a surprise.

As Congress has announced only two names, the BRS can announce one name which means that the election would be unanimous.

It has decided to renominate Vaddiraju Ravichandra also known as Gayatri Ravi. He will file his nomination papers on Thursday. Ravichandra is one of the three BRS Rajya Sabha members who will be retiring on 2 April.

He was elected to Rajya Sabha in a by-election and was member of the Upper House for only 20 months. He is a BC, belonging to the Munnuru Kapu caste.

BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao decided on renominating only one candidate to the Rajya Sabha as the party has strength in the Assembly that can help it win only one seat after the Congress came to power in the state.

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The nominated candidates

Renuka Chowdhury served as a member of the upper House between 2012 and 2018. She was the Union minister for women and child development under UPA-I between 2006 and 2009, and minister for tourism (independent charge) between 2004-2006.

She began her political career in 1984 as a TDP member and joined the Congress in 1998. She was elected to the Lok Sabha twice from Khammam constituency in 1999 and 2004.

Anil Kumar Yadav was president of the state Youth Congress from 2015-20. His father Anjan Kumar Yadav was MP from Secunderabad between 2004-2009 and 2009-2014.

In March 2020, Anil Kumar Yadav became the national general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress. The party leadership chose Anil Kumar Yadav apparently to infuse young blood into the party.

Speaking to media persons, Anil Kumar Yadav said he had never expected that he would be chosen for the house of elders. He said the development only proved that the Congress encouraged new blood.

“NSUI state president Balmoor Venkat was sent to the council and now I am being taken into the Rajya Sabha,” he said, adding that this was yet another instance that it wanted to empower the BCs.

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Nominees in Karnataka

For Karnataka, the Congress high command retained two incumbent members Dr Syed Naseer Hussain — in charge of the AICC president’s office — and GC Chandrashekar — who belongs to the Vokkaliga community.

In a surprise choice, the grand-old party also fielded AICC treasurer and former Union minister Ajay Maken — who hails from Delhi — in Karnataka. However, the party did not allot ticket to Dalit poet and incumbent member L Hanumanthaiah.

In Karnataka, the Congress has 135 MLAs and also the support of two independent MLAs, whereas the BJP has 66 MLAs and the JD(S) has 19 MLAs.

According to the officials of the Karnataka Legislature: “Each nominee needs 45 votes in order to emerge victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections. The votes to elect each nominee are fixed on a certain formula.”

Meanwhile, the BJP has allotted ticket to former MLC Narayana K Bandage, who is all set to replace Union minister for IT Rajeev Chandrashekar from Karnataka in Rajya Sabha.