At a time when Nara Chandrababu Naidu's TDP is reportedly insisting on the Lok Sabha Speaker's post, the buzz is about who is the party's chosen one for the post.
Three-time MP Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, who was first elected to the august house in 2014 as a 27-year-old, is said to be among the frontrunners.
Son of ex-Union Minister, Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu, Ram Mohan Naidu was educated at the Delhi Public School, RK Puram, before he did his MBA from the Purdue University in the US and and MBA from the Long Island University. A man with friends from across the political spectrum, he is also fluent in both English and Hindi.
Another leading contender is former Lok Sabha Speaker Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi's son and first-time MP GM Harish Madhur.
Famously, the TDP elevated Balayogi, then the Amalapuram MP, to the post and got the credit of making him the first Dalit Speaker of the Lok Sabha during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure as PM. Balayogi died in a helicopter crash in March 2002.
Harish unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which he lost by a margin of less than 40,000 votes.
Five years later, he bounced back by winning with a margin of more than 3.42 lakh in an election dominated by the TDP and its allies.
By picking Harish, the TDP may once again claim the credit of making Dalit as the Speaker after one full decade.
After Balayogi, Meira Kumar (2009-2014) was the only one from Dalit community to serve as the Speaker.
