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TDP’s Rajya Sabha ranks set to include businessman once at heart of internal CBI war

Sathish Babu Sana among two names nominated by party and set to win unopposed. TDP calls charges against Sana, out on bail in an ED case, political conspiracy

Sources in the TDP said that Sana was picked due to his proximity to the top TDP leadership.(Photo: X/@sanasathishbabu)

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) late on Monday night ended the suspense regarding its choice for the two vacant Rajya Sabha seats, renominating Beedha Masthan Rao and including a surprise pick in controversial businessman Sathish Babu Sana. With no other candidates against them, both will win unopposed.

Outside Andhra, Sana is best known for accusing then CBI special director Rakesh Asthana in 2018 of taking a bribe of Rs 3 crore to let him off in a case related to controversial meat-exporter Moin Qureshi. The complaint had triggered an all out CBI versus CBI war with then director Alok Verma booking Asthana and ordering a probe against him, forcing the agency to send both officers on leave.

In June 2019, Sana was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with Qureshi money laundering case and is currently out on bail, after the ED filed a chargesheet naming him.

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Also Read | Delhi HC upholds money laundering probe against businessmen Sathish Babu Sana, Pradeep Koneru

The TDP, which is now an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre, calls the charges part of a “political conspiracy”.

Sources in the TDP said that Sana was picked due to his proximity to the top TDP leadership. “Though he does not have any political experience, he has been in the vicinity of politics for a long time,” a source said.

A native of Kakinada, Sana started his career as an employee of the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Board before quitting and moving to Hyderabad, where he floated a number of companies like Gold Coast Properties Private Limited, Rasama Estates, Matrix Natural Resources Private Limited and East Godavari Breweries Private Limited. Since his foray into business, he has been known to be close to leaders of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Congress and TDP.

“Locals started to refer to him as ‘lightning Sana’ after he went up an electricity pole during a storm in Kakinada to repair it. He has always thought about the well-being of Kakinda’s people,” a TDP leader in Kakinada said.

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Sana has also dabbled with sports administration and served as the secretary of the East Godavari Cricket Association for a short while before becoming its lifetime member, and as a museum committee member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Every year, he organises the Sana Sathish Babu Cricket Championship.

On why Sana was preferred over at least 10 senior TDP leaders seen to be aspirants, sources said: “Firstly, the information that 10 leaders were in the reckoning (for a Rajya Sabha berth) is wrong. Only Mopidevi garu was in the race but he himself opted out saying he was more suited to Andhra than Delhi. Hence, we looked at Sana. The allegations against him have not been proven. There are many members of Parliament who have allegations against them,” a source said.

Another leader said that if the allegations are proven, the party will take action against Sana. “Just like Koneti Adimulam (TDP Sathyavedu MLA) was suspended (over allegations of sexual harassment), the party is firm that it will act against wrongdoings of its members,” the leader said.

Asked about the TDP naming Sana for the Rajya Sabha, sources in the BJP said it was the party’s “internal matter”.

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The other Rajya Sabha nominee of the TDP, Nellore-born Masthan Rao, is the Chairman of BMR Industries, one of the largest shrimp exporters in the country. Seen to be a tall leader of the Andhra Yadav community, he went to Guntur university with YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy.

He made his Assembly poll debut in 2009 from the Kavali segment, where he defeated the Congress’s Vishnuvardhan Reddy by around 19,000 votes. After his election as an MLA, he tasked his cousin Beedha Ravichandra, who was seen as close to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and an MLC, with managing his cadre and other local issues as he went on to become the most prominent Yadav face of the TDP in the state.

Despite his loss in the 2014 Assembly elections, he was made an advisory member of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) between 2014 and 2019.

He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Nellore Lok Sabha seat but lost to Addala Prabhakar Reddy of the YSRCP. According to sources, after his defeat, Rao was eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth besides the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman’s post, and shifted to the YSRCP in December 2019 after being overlooked for both posts.

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In June this year, Rao’s daughter Beedha Madhuri allegedly drove her BMW car over a 22-year-old man sleeping on a pavement in Chennai. She subsequently surrendered before a local police station and was granted bail.

For the third vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Andhra, the BJP has announced R Krishnaiah. He too will be elected unopposed.

The main Opposition party YSRCP has just 11 MLAs in the 175-member House and cannot win a Rajya Sabha seat.