Thaindian News

Hyderabad, June 4 (IANS) Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy were among six candidates who Friday filed their nominations for Rajya Sabha elections from the state.
Jairam Ramesh, Janardhan Reddy, veteran leader V. Hanumantha Rao and former bureaucrat J.D. Seelam, all from the ruling Congress, filed their papers for a second term.

The central leadership of the Congress decided to re-nominate them, ignoring many other aspirants including state Congress chief D. Srinivas and former union minister Renuka Choudhary.

Industrialist Y. Sujana Chowdary, chairman of Sujana Group of Companies, and G. Sudharani also filed their papers as candidates of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

The four re-nominated by Congress along with Girish Sanghi, also of the ruling party, and CPI-M’s Penuballi Madhu retired this month.

Going by its current strength of 156 in the 294-member state assembly, the Congress can win four seats while the TDP will get two.

The Congress can comfortably win three seats and is sure of bagging the fourth with the support of the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

Friday is the last day for filing nominations. If the papers of all the six candidates are found in order, they will be declared elected unopposed in the June 14 elections.