VIJAYAWADA: Putting an end to the speculations about the political future of Jana Sena Party general secretary K Nagababu, JSP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has finalised the name of his elder brother as the party candidate for the MLC elections under the MLAs’ quota.
Besides asking Nagababu to file his nomination papers for the MLC seat, Pawan Kalyan directed the JSP office-bearers to ready the necessary documents for the filing of his elder brother’s nomination.
In fact, Nagababu wanted to contest from Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 elections. However, as part of the seat sharing agreement among the TDP-JSP-BJP combine, Anakapalle was allotted to BJP leader CM Ramesh.
Later, the JSP expected a Rajya Sabha berth for Nagababu. However, it did not materialise during the biennial elections held to three Rajya Sabha seats in the State with the TDP taking two, and the other went to the BJP.
While nominating candidates to the Rajya Sabha, TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced his decision to induct Nagababu into the State Cabinet. However, Pawan Kalyan is of the view that except in special circumstances, the Cabinet berth should not be given to a person, who is not the member of either the Assembly or Council.
With the Election Commission releasing the schedule to fill five vacant seats in the AP Legislative Council, Pawan Kalyan named Nagababu as the JSP candidate. The coalition with a strength of 164 in the 175-member Legislative Assembly is set to win all the five MLC seats. It is not known yet whether the TDP will take the remaining four MLC seats or give one of them to BJP.