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Venkaiah, Nirmala in race for AP RS seat
An interesting race to secure re-nomination from Andhra Pradesh to the Rajya Sabha this year among those stepping down from the BJP is on. Two stalwarts of BJP are eyeing the slot with the Telugu Desam party willing to re-nominate one BJP MP in 2016 also.
New Delhi: An interesting race to secure re-nomination from Andhra Pradesh to the Rajya Sabha this year among those stepping down from the BJP is on. Two stalwarts of BJP are eyeing the slot with the Telugu Desam party willing to re-nominate one BJP MP in 2016 also.
The two Ministers in the race are none-other than Union Cabinet Ministers, M Venkaiah Naidu and Nirmala Sitaraman. The Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu,
who was nominated from Karnataka on July 1, 2010 will be completing his term on July 30, 2016. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Commerce, Nirmala Sitaraman, nominated from Andhra Pradesh by the BJP ally, TDP in June 26, 2014 and will be completing her term on June 21, 2016.
Both Venkaiah and Nirmala are holding key portfolios in Narendra Modi's Cabinet now apart from being effective in voicing the government’s line in the media. Naidu in addition is playing an all important role of handling the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio.
The floor coordination of Naidu and his handling of the Southern States issues has endeared him to PM in recent times. Though there is this rule in the party that no leader be nominated for more than three times to Rajya Sabha, Naidu's case could be an exception this time, it is said.
If the BJP wants to accommodate Naidu from Andhra Pradesh this timearound, then it would have to move Nirmala Sitaraman to another State. This should not be a problem as its position is comfortable as it isin power in a handful of States in the North.
Naidu has no chance of getting renominated from Karnataka this time around as the Congress has come back to power there. Naidu himself may be interested only in Andhra Pradesh due to his personal reasons, it is said in the party circles here.
The chemistry between Venkaiah Naidu and the AP Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, is unmatched and their tango could continue to the benefit of AP, the TDP feels. It is not as if Nirmala Sitaraman is running behind Naidu in this race and is not helpful to the State Government.
She is also much respected in the TDP circles and Chandrababu Naidu has high regard for her. Her willfulness in resolving ticklish issues being confronted by AP and her resourcefulness in contributing to the development of Andhra Pradesh has made her a key personality for the TDP in dealing with the Centre.
The TDP delegations from the State or the Chief Minister himself always makes it a point to meet these two leaders at least in each of their visits. There are several instances where in the two Cabinet Ministers have rung up their colleagues to seek their favourable intervention in the issues related to Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from these, the Telugu Desam Ministers in the Union Cabinet, P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y S Chowdary and the Special Representative of the Andhra Pradesh Government in New Delhi, K Ram Mohan rao, always knock the doors of the chambers of Naidu and Nirmala Sitarman at the slightest pretext to bring pressure on the bureaucracy for quick clearances of AP's projects.
Interestingly, Y S Chowdary, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, will also be stepping down this year along with the above two colleagues of his. However, his renomination is almost ensured as he is said to be playing a stellar role as far as the TDP Government is concerned at the national Capital.
