The TRS has nominated industrialist Vaddiraju Ravichandra, Hetero Drugs chairman Bandi Parthasaradhi Reddy and media owner D. Damodar Rao as its candidates for three seats of Rajya Sabha from Telangana.
While Mr. Ravichandra has been nominated for the by-election caused by the resignation of TRS member Banda Prakash, Mr. Parthasaradhi Reddy and Mr. Damodar Rao will fill vacancies caused by the retirement of TRS members V. Laxmikantha Rao and D. Srinivas next month. Mr. Ravichandra will have only a two-year term to serve the remainder of the period in Mr. Prakash’s tenure but Mr. Parthasaradhi Reddy and Mr. Damodar Rao will get full six years.
All three will get elected unopposed as the TRS enjoys a strength of 101 in the 117-member Assembly and also can count on the support of its friendly party MIM.
The nominations for the by-election will close on Thursday but they will open on May 24 and close on May 31 for the other two seats. The party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao nonetheless decided to announce the candidates for all the three seats in one go. He selected a backward class candidate in Mr. Ravichandra while accommodating members of forward castes for the other two seats.
Mr. Ravichandra is the chairman of Gayatri Granites and hails from Inugurthi village of Kesamudram mandal in Mahabubabad district. He was a dark horse for the ticket who joined the TRS post his defeat in last Assembly elections as Congress candidate from Warangal (East). Representing Munnuru Kapu community, he was the honorary president of National Union of Backward Castes.
Mr. Parthasaradhi Reddy is the chairman of Hetero Drugs which is among the top ten pharma countries in the country. He holds a doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry and worked in Dr. Reddy’s Labs as the head of research and development. Later, he set up Hetero Drugs which is now considered world leader in production of anti-retroviral drugs.
Mr. Damodar Rao is a tax practitioner associated with TRS since the beginning. He is the Director of Telangana Broadcasting which runs T-News TV channel and is chairman and managing director of Telangana Publications which publishes Namaste Telangana and Telangana Today dailies.
