It was sheer hard work and some luck for G Sudharani, the Telugu Desam?s Rajya Sabha nominee. From being a municipal councillor in Warangal, the 45-year-old leader of backward classes will become a Rajya Sabha MP after TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu ignored several strong contenders and nominated her. Among the six nominees named by the Congress and TDP, she is the only one who comes from such a background.
The Congress took the safe option of renominating four members for the Rajya Sabha elections on June 14 to avoid upsetting equations in the state Congress that is divided over Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. The party did not want to placate or upset any group by considering candidates suggested by them.
By renominating Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh from Andhra, the party also sent out a strong message to several state party leaders that unnecessary complaints would not be tolerated. Several contenders from the state had started a campaign to deny him a renomination. The allegations against him ranged from not doing enough for the state to being an outsider. ?He failed to get national project status for the Polavaram Dam. He hasn?t done anything to get clearances for a YSR memorial in Nallamalla forest,? said one Congress leader. N Janardhana Reddy, V Hanumantha Rao and Jesudasu Seelam have also been renominated.
AP Congress Committee president D Srinivas and former minister for women and child development Renuka Chowdhury, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Khammam, lobbied for RS nominations but did not succeed.