Hyderabad: The Congress party has cold-shouldered late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's younger brother Y S Vivekananda Reddy by denying him a seat in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council under the Governor's quota.
Though it was widely expected that Vivekananda would be 'nominated' to the Council following his drubbing in the by-election to Pulivendula Assembly constituency, his name did not figure in the list of candidates announced by the Congress to fill the five vacancies in the Upper House of the state Legislature.
A Chakrapani, former chairman of the Legislative Council, has secured re-nomination while four others, D Rajeswara Rao, A Lakshmi Siva Kumari, Reddappa Reddy and Farook Hussain, also got the nod.
Governor E S L Narasimhan signed the relevant file on Saturday and sent it to the Chief Minister's Office, official sources said, adding that a formal notification nominating the five members to the Council would be issued subsequently.
Vivekananda, who was made the state Agriculture Minister in December 2010, resigned in March to contest the Pulivendula by-election, where he lost to his sister-in-law Y S Vijayalakshmi of YSR Congress party (YCP).
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was said to be keen on having Vivekananda back in his Council of Ministers by getting him nominated to the Council under the Governor's quota. Both Kiran and Viveka had lobbied with the Congress high command but failed.
Viveka was the sole member of the YSR family who stayed back in the Congress after Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijayalakshmi quit in November 2010. This has also caused a rift in the YSR family with the uncle-nephew duo falling apart.
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