VIJAYAWADA: The Jana Sena Party (JSP) is all set to have its representation in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council too.
After winning all the 21 Assembly and the two Lok Sabha seats it contested in the recent elections, alongside the TDP and BJP on the NDA plank, the JSP is set to enter the Council too.
JSP political secretary P Hariprasad has been picked as an MLC candidate. From the TDP, senior leader C Ramachandraiah, popularly known as CR, will once again be nominated to the Council.
The two MLC seats fell vacant with the disqualification of Ramachandraiah, and the resignation of former IPS officer Shaik Mohd Iqbal. Both were nominated to the Council under the MLA quota by the YSRC. Both the leaders had tenure till March 29, 2027.
Before the elections, CR distanced himself with the YSRC, and joined the TDP. The YSRC moved a disqualification petition against the senior member, and he was disqualified by Council Chairperson Koyye Moshen Raju leading to the vacancy.
On the other hand, Iqbal, who unsuccessfully contested against Nandamuri Balakrishna of TDP from Hindupur earlier, resigned from the party following differences with the local leadership.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already released the notification to fill the two vacancies, and the last date for filing of nominations is July 2. The NDA is all set to bag the two MLC seats without any challenge.
Out of the total 175 Assembly seats, the TDP has got a strength of 135, and its allies JSP 21, and BJP eight taking the total to 164. The YSRC won a meagre 11 seats.
Hariprasad, who hails from Eluru, did his BL from Siddhartha Law College in Vijayawada. With interest in journalism, he worked in various print and electronic media organisations for nearly 25 years. Since the inception of JSP, he headed the party’s media wing, and is presently the political secretary of JSP chief Pawan Kalyan.
Both Hariprasad and CR will file their nomination papers on Tuesday.