Surprising as it might sound, more and more bigwigs belonging to media houses are expressing interest in becoming Rajya Sabha members.In the past, we had seen former Deccan Chronicle MD T Chandrasekhar Reddy becoming Rajya Sabha member on behalf of the Congress party.After his death, his son T Venkattram Reddy became MP in his place. He tried several times later for the RS ticket, but could not succeed.
In the north, several media personalities like Chandan Mitra (of Pioneer) and Vijay Darda (Lokmat Times) had become Rajya Sabha members.Even senior journalist M J Akbar became an MP, but got elected to Lok Sabha, instead of being nominated to Rajya Sabha.Back to south, we had seen Girish Sanghi, founder of Vaartha Telugu daily, became a Rajya Sabha member from the Congress party
Now, with the elections to the Rajya Sabha round the corner, some more media persons are lobbying for the RS nominatioIn Andhra Pradesh, there is a talk that Andhra Jyothy MD Vemuri Radhakrishna is strongly trying for the RS seat. And in Telangana, two media owners are in race: D Damodar Rao from Namasthe Telangana Telugu daily and C L Rajam of Metro India English daily.
Indications are that Damodar Rao might get the RS nomination from the TRS, while former minister Capt Lakshmikanth Rao might get the nomination under Brahmin quota.Apparently, it is a matter of prestige for the media persons to become Rajya Sabha members. They might not aspire for big political positions, but they would definitely use the same to develop their media houses. Hence, so much craze for RS seats!