Chiranjeevi authorised to decide on tie-up with Congress
By IANSThursday, February 3, 2011
HYDERABAD - The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) Thursday authorised its president K. Chiranjeevi to take a decision on the proposed alliance with the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh.
A crucial meeting of PRP attended by its senior leaders and 15 legislators at the party office here unanimously passed a resolution authorising Chiranjeevi to take decision in this regard.
PRP leader C. Ramachandraiah told reporters after the meeting that Chiranjeevi would visit New Delhi by this weekend to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and take a decision on the tie-up with that party.
“Our party will not make any proposal on its own but will hear what the Congress president has to say and then our leader will respond,” said Ramachandraiah.
He said he had no knowledge of the reported proposal to merge the PRP with the Congress.
The PRP meeting discussed in detail the proposals to either join the Congress government in the state or merge the party with it. The proposals were reportedly moved by senior Congress leader A.K. Antony during his meeting with Chiranjeevi here Jan 31.
Antony invited the actor-turned-politician to the national capital for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi for further discussion.
Ramachandraiah said that the PRP was ready to work with the Congress to achieve its goal of social justice. “The PRP was formed with the slogan of social justice but we feel that it can be achieved only by working together with like-minded secular parties like the Congress,” he said.
Facing the threat of a no-confidence motion in the coming assembly session, the Congress is trying to rope in the PRP, which has 18 legislators in the 294-member house.
With 156 members, the Congress has a slender majority in the house and is worried over the threat posed by former party MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. At least two dozen party legislators have openly sided with the rebel leader who quit the Congress in November last year.
The PRP last month decided not to join the government but indicated that it may extend outside support, if necessary, to avert a snap poll.
The Congress is also looking at the possibility of a similar tie-up with Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which has seven legislators.
