TRS to finalize new Raja sabha candidates

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s nephew and TRS general secretary J Santosh is confirmed to get Rajya Sabha berth from the ruling party.

According to sources, the chief minister is said to be in favour of Santosh, who has been working for the party from behind right from the day of inception of the TRS. Sources also said that with chief minister deciding to foray into national politics, Santosh is said to be right candidate to handle the party work at the national level assisting Chandrashekar Rao.

Santosh is son of KCR’s wife’s Shobha’s sister and has been with the TRS chief all the time. “As he is one of the family members and able enough to handle the work pertaining to front and can coordinate the same way he did during Telangana agitation. He is the ultimate choice for the TRS chief to be sent to Rajya Sabha,” said a TRS leader close to CM KCR.

Meanwhile, Santosh made a visit to Dargah Yousufian on Monday and offered chadar. Along with Waqf Board chairman Md Saleem, Santosh visited Dargah Yousufian. Saleem said that Santosh wanted to visit Dargah and pray for the success of chief minister who is willing to go into national politics.

According to sources, several other names are also doing rounds. Out of the three seats, second seat is expected to be given to a leader from Yadav community since Chief Minister had promised to give a seat to Yadav community during a meeting of the community held recently. The name of Rajaiah Yadav, who is the chairman of Sheep and Meat Development Corporation, is doing rounds. The other names doing rounds include former MLA G Jaipal Yadav, Nomula Narsimaiah, M B Krishna Yadav. The ruling TRS is sure to get all the three vacant seats by virtue of its strength in the Assembly.

The third seat is likely to be given to a leader either from forward caste or from Scheduled caste. The names Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy, Uma Madhava Reddy, Manda Jagannadham are also doing rounds. However, the chief minister is likely make the names public either on March 8. The last date for filing nomination papers is March 12. Last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 15 and elections if necessary would take place on March 23.