TRS names industrialists as its Rajya Sabha candidates

Hyderabad: Hetero Drugs Chairman and Managing Director Bandi Parthasaradhi Reddy, Gayatri Group of Companies’ chief promoter Vaddiraju Ravi Chandra, and Telangana Publications Private Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Divakonda Damodar Rao are the three candidates announced by the TRS on Wednesday for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao cleared the names after consultations with the party leaders.

Contrary to speculations doing the rounds in political circles for several weeks, KCR has not nominated actor Prakash Raj, who is believed to be playing a key role in his plans for national politics.

Parthasaradhi Reddy is the founder and head of Hetero Drugs, a Hyderabad-based generic pharmaceutical company.

He is a billionaire and one of the richest Indians in Hurun India Rich List 2021. Parthasaradhi Reddy and family of Hetero Labs ranked 58 in the list of wealthiest Indians in 2021, against 81 in 2020 list. According to Hurun list, they have a wealth of Rs 26,100 crore, a growth of 88 per cent in a year.

Ravi Chandra is the founder and chief promoter of Gayatri Group, which is into granite and mining. The 61-year-old belongs to backward classes.

Damodar Rao is Chairman and Managing Director, Telangana Publications Private Ltd. The company runs Telugu daily ‘Namasthe Telangana’, English newspaper ‘Telangana Today’ and Telugu news channel ‘T-News’, considered as mouthpieces of the ruling party.

One of the three candidates named by the TRS will file nomination on Thursday for the by-election to be held on May 30. The vacancy arose due to the resignation of Banda Prakash after he was elected to Telangana Legislative Council. May 19 is the last date for filing of nomination.

The Election Commission last week announced the schedule for two seats of the Upper House of Parliament as sitting members V. Lakshmikanta Rao and D. Srinivas will be retiring on June 21.

The election notification for the two seats will be issued on May 24. The last date for filing of nominations is May 31. Election, if necessary, will be held on June 10.

With more than 100 MLAs in 119-member Assembly, the TRS has the required strength to win all the three seats.