Taking care not to ruffle any feathers on the eve of voting for byelections to seven Assembly segments, the AICC will officially release the list of its four nominees for the Rajya Sabha from the state on Sunday evening.
“Announcement of candidates a day before the polling may turn disadvantageous to the Congress as there is a chance that leaders who fail to secure nomination may not take interest in the voting on Sunday. This was primarily the reason that the AICC did not announce the names of party nominees from AP along with the other names that were announced on Saturday,” said a source.
Out of the four, the name of K. Chiranjeevi, president of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam, has been cleared by the Congress president. Besides Mr Chiranjeevi, the party has picked a leader from outside the state one more time, sources said. However, suspense continues over the two other names. Meanwhile, PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana confirmed to this correspondent that the AICC will release the list on Sunday evening.
He said that both he and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy met Cong-ress president Sonia Gandhi and conveyed their opinions on the list of aspirants for RS seats. “We don't know the details of candidates, the high command will announce the names, we just offered our views,” Mr Satyanarayana said. Replying to a question, he said that the six ministers against whom SC decided to issue notices in the Jagan assets case, will submit their replies to the court in their individual capacity since government was not made party in the issue.
However he said out of the 26 controversial GOs, details pertaining to 24 GOs are already being investigated by CBI.