Singhvi set to retain RS Seat; Shyam Mohan, Sudhakar Goud strong contender for second berth from Telangana

With two Rajya Sabha seats from Telangana set to fall vacant in April, political activity has intensified within the ruling Congress as it weighs its nominees for the Upper House.

Sources indicate that senior Supreme Court advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, currently representing Telangana in the Rajya Sabha, is likely to retain his seat with the backing of the Congress high command.

Singhvi’s legal acumen and articulate presence in Parliament are seen as key assets for the party at the national level. The second seat, however, has triggered considerable interest within the State unit. And according to party insiders, veteran Congress leader Shyam Mohan Anantula, younger brother of Madan Mohan Anantula, who was a minister in the AP cabinet under multiple chief ministers in the 1970s, has emerged as one of the front runners to replace K R Suresh Reddy, who was elected on a Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket and whose term concludes in April.

Anantula participated in the 1960-61 All India Youth Congress convention, addressed by Indira Gandhi and played a role in the 1969 Telangana movement.

Anantula, now running 75, has had an expansive professional and international profile as he served on the Planning Commission working group on Food Security and Public Distribution, was a member of the Central Board of Film Certification, and led global delegations to China and Latin America.

The second front-runner for the second berth is Telangana Congress spokesperson Bandi Sudhakar Goud, who has been in the grand old party for the last 40 years and served in different capacities and had been in the core team of former Congress chief ministers, including the incumbent CM Revanth Reddy.