Vijayawada: Three Rajya Sabha candidates of the YSRC – Y.V. Subba Reddy, Meda Raghunath Reddy and Golla Babu Rao – filed their nominations on Monday. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy handed over the B-forms to them.
The YSRC candidates submitted their papers to the Assembly joint secretary who is the Rajya Sabha election returning officer.
Subba Reddy said the SC, ST, BC and minority communities’ representatives would be given high priority by the YSRC. He praised the Chief Minister for ensuring “social justice” in the Rajya Sabha election process in AP.
He recalled that in the past, four BCs were sent to the Rajya Sabha by the Chief Minister. The YSRC has the strength in the AP Assembly to elect all the three candidates. “Their victory is assured,” he said.
YSRC MLA, Golla Babu Rao, who would contest the RS polls, said Jagan Mohan Reddy has created history. “Poor people are being sent to the Rajya Sabha” from AP as per a decision of the CM,” he said.
“CM Jagan Mohan Reddy is giving priority to the suppressed communities. I am one example. A Dalit, I am offered a Rajya Sabha seat,” he said.
He alleged that Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu never gave chance to Dalits. “Instead, Naidu used to send wealthy leaders from his caste to the Rajya Sabha. Naidu had repeatedly promised a RS seat to TD Dalit leader Varla Ramaiah but suddenly changed his mind and he was not given the ticket,” he noted.
Babu Rao recalled that during the earlier TD government, Naidu announced Varla Ramaiah as RS candidate but insulted the Dalit leader by giving the ticket to Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar.
Raghunatha Reddy, another YSRC candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections, said Jagan Mohan Reddy gave him this opportunity. “We will work according to CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wishes and in the best interests of AP while in Parliament.”
