HYDERABAD: The Congress continued to maintain suspense over its candidates for the Rajya Sabha election, the last date of filing nomination for which is February 15. In the elections that are scheduled for February 27, the Congress is sure to win two of the three seats, given its House strength of 64 MLAs, while the BRS can win the third seat with its 39-MLA strength. If the Congress names two candidates and the BRS one, they will be elected unopposed, but an election will be necessitated if the Congress names a third candidate. Congress sources said that the party high command is expected to release the names of candidates on Wednesday, but it was unclear whether the party will field two candidates or three. There is heavy competition in Congress to secure Rajya Sabha tickets, with senior leaders V. Hanumantha Rao, K. Jana Reddy, J. Geetha Reddy, Addanki Dayakar, Renuka Chowdhary, Balram Naik and G. Chinna Reddy among those in the race. Sources said that there was also a possibility of the party high command nominating a leader from another state under the AICC quota for a Rajya Sabha seat from Telangana. Former Union minister and AICC treasurer Ajay Maken and former Union minister T. Subbarami Reddy are reportedly in the race to bag the Rajya Sabha seat from Telangana. In the second scenario, only one Rajya Sabha seat will be available for the dozen-odd Telangana leaders in the fray.
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