Cross-voting by Congress MlAs in Andhra Pradesh saw TRS making its debut in Rajya Sabha as high drama marked the polls to the Upper House in different States.
In Odisha, Opposition Congress leader and IPl Chairman Ranjib Biswal managed to come out triumphant when ruling BJD failed to ensure the win of an independent candidate, backed by it, as six of its MlAs did not transfer their surplus votes in his favour. Three BJD candidates also won. While the win of the BJD nominees were expected, Biswal, who was in the fray for the fourth seat, managed to emerge victorious by bagging 29 votes as against 20 of his rival BJD-backed independent candidate Raghunath Mohapatra, a leading sculptor.
Each candidate required 30 first preference votes to win the elections BJD’s official candidates — A U Singhdeo got 33 votes followed by 32 votes for Kalpataru Das and Sarojini Hembram secured 31 votes. As BJD’s official candidates got six more votes than their requirement, Mohapatra secured only 20 votes. On the other hand, Biswal not only secured Congress’s 27 MlAs but could also manage to two more votes.
In Andhra Pradesh, Congress bagged three seats while TDP and TRS secured two and one respectively. The victorious candidates are: KVP Ramachandra Rao, D Subbirami Reddy and MA Khan while T Seetamara lakshmi and G Mohana Rao (both TDP) and K Keshav Rao (TRS) also got through.
Much of Congress worries were settled when rebel Congress MlA, Adala Prabhakar Reddy, pulled out from the race on Thursday, leaving the contest for the party a mere formality as six candidates remained in fray for an equal number of seats.
The victory of Keshava Rao, who hails from Telangana, clearly brought out the primacy of regional loyalty. TRS had only 17 MlAs in the Assembly but the party candidate sailed though following support from four CPI MlAs and backing of a number of Congress MlAs from Telangana region. This is the first time that TRS will have a representative in Rajya Sabha.