iD Desk
iD Desk
Perhaps for the first time in its 40 years history, the opposition TDP had lost its presence in Rajya Sabha. Its member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar is the last member to serve the party in the Upper House. He is scheduled to retire on April 2, 2024.
The TDP did not contest the elections held to fill the three vacancies falling on April 2, in Andhra Pradesh. The ruling YSR Congress grabbed all the three seats raising its strength to 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
The TDP seems to have given up the hope of winning the Rajya Sabha elections. The party fielded its candidate in March 2020 Rajya Sabha elections. It fielded senior leader Varla Ramaiah as its candidate and finally lost the election.
Initially, the party planned to field Ramaiah once again and give a fight with the support of the dissident MLAs in the ruling party who are denied the ticket in the coming general election. However, the party gave up the proposal as the defeat at this point of time would have an impact on the general election.
The party felt that defeat in the election now would reflect on the overall voting of the people and had finally decided not to contest the election. Party is worried about losing the battle to the ruling YSR Congress.
Several leaders of the party are not sure of victory in the coming elections. They are worried about the popularity of the ruling YSR Congress among the people, particularly the welfare schemes that put the party ahead of others.
The party suffers for lack of leadership in some constituencies, while there is infighting among the leaders in some constituencies. It is also worried about the alliance with the Jana Sena as the party is asking for some important seats in alliance. The leaders are not ready to give their seats to the Jana Sena in several places.
The leaders are also worried about the party going for alliance with the BJP as that would make the party to sacrifice another five to ten seats. The leaders at the grassroots are not ready even to give at least one seat.
It is to be seen how the leadership would handle this issue and face the greater challenge of elections.
