TDP candidates file nominations RS elections

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Telugu Desam Party candidates C M Ramesh and Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar today filed their nominations for the election to two Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh.

They filed their nominations before Returning Officer K Satyanarayana Rao in the state legislature, hours before the nomination process drew to a close.

Earlier, the two candidates met the Chief Minister and party chief, N Chandrababu Naidu, and expressed gratitude for choosing them.

A businessman and party financier, Ramesh is currently a member of the Upper House, representing Telangana since the state bifurcation. He is due to retire on April 2 after completing his first term of six years.

Despite initial talk in the party that Ramesh may not get a second term, Naidu chose to renominate him, given the various (financial) equations, party sources averred.

On the other hand, Ravindra Kumar will be making his debut in public life after having served TDP for about three decades.

A senior lawyer in the Andhra Pradesh high court, Kumar heads the TDP's legal cell and had appeared for Naidu in various cases filed by the then chief minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

"We need a person like Ravindra Kumar to fight legal cases on implementation of the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. He has been a loyal party worker for many years, and hence, been rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat," Naidu said.