Congress likely to win Telangana Rajya Sabha bypoll, take tally up to 27

NEW DELHI: Keshav Rao's resignation from Rajya Sabha as a BRS MP and Congress's expected win of the vacancy in the byelection will take the party's tally in the upper House to 27, increasing its cushion to retain the leader of opposition's post to two seats and relieving it of a serious concern. Telangana has a large Congress majority and it is sure to win the seat.
After its debacle in the December 2023 state elections and its setbacks post-2014, Congress's tally in the upper House has slipped drastically. After the last round of Rajya Sabha elections, Congress barely retained the leader of opposition's post, which is occupied by party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The party's strength in Rajya Sabha till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections stood at 28, while the 10% seats that enable the principal opposition party to claim the LoP position is 25.
As the party appeared to have barely retained the requisite numbers, the parliamentary elections saw the victory of two Rajya Sabha members - K C Venugopal and Deepender Hooda - and their resignations from the RS has brought down the Congress tally to 26.
The biggest concern over this change was its implication for the key perch that allows the Congress president to have a leadership role in Parliament. A buffer of one seat appeared very shaky. At the same time, the byelections to be called on the seats vacated by Venugopal and Hooda will benefit BJP which governs Rajasthan and Haryana.
It is here that Rao's crossing over to his erstwhile party will increase the Congress comfort over the LoP's position.
While Rao may return to the RS from Telangana for the remainder term of two years as a Congress member, his appointment in Hyderabad as adviser to the state govt on Sunday has led to talk that he may be replaced by Abhishek Singhvi.
A political veteran, Rao was Andhra Pradesh Congress president and later became a senior leader in Telangana Congress. He was also a CWC member in charge of the state. However, Rao ditched Congress in 2013 and moved to the then TRS.