PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana seems to have had an upper hand in the selection of Rajya Sabha candidates over Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. The party high command rejected all the names of suggested by the CM for nomination. Kiran put his best efforts to get a nomination for his friend and former assembly speaker K Suresh Reddy.
But to his surprise, Sonia Gandhi chose to bring back septuagenarian politician Palvai Govardhan Reddy out of nowhere. The CM also reportedly lobbied for Sivarami Reddy of Horse Riding Club and T Venkatrami Reddy of Deccan Chronicle.
Botsa and Lagadapati played a part in convincing the party high command in allotting the fourth seat to the state. However, their efforts to rope in Shabbir Ali did not make much impact on Sonia for reasons not known.
Sonia apparently wanted to know the communities that were underrepresented in the party, and that is how Rapolu Anand Bhaskar’s name cropped up.
