HYDERABAD: TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with BJP national president Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday generated a lot of curiosity among the political circles.
The meeting assumes significance as it took place at a time when the term of two Union Ministers -- M Venkaiah Naidu and Nirmala Sitaraman -- belonging to AP, in the Rajya Sabha is going to end by coming June.
As the TDP leadership is said to be considering allotting one of the three seats which it is sure to win as per its numerical strength in the Assembly in the ensuing biennial polls to the Upper House, to the BJP, both Naidu and Shah are believed to have discussed this issue.
In fact, biennial polls are due for four seats from AP in the Rajya Sabha, which will become vacant by June after the retirement of Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and JD Seelam, TDP’s Y Sujana Chowdary and BJP’s Nirmala Sitaraman.
Of the four seats, TDP will win three whereas the YSRC will bag one basing on their numerical strength. TDP sources disclosed that Naidu has made up his mind to give one of the seats to BJP.
As Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu’s term in the Upper House ends by June from Karnataka, he and his colleague Nirmala Sitaraman are understood to be in competition to bag the seat from AP. Sources said the BJP is considering renewing the membership of Nirmala from some other State while giving a chance to Venkaiah to represent his own State in the Upper House this time.