Hyderabad, February 10: Having announced the merger of his Praja Rajyam Party with Congress, film actor-politician Chiranjeevi on Wednesday said he would strive to strengthen the national party and the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.
Chiranjeevi met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and state Congress president D Srinivas here.
“As a member of the Congress family, I will work for strengthening Congress and the leadership of Sonia Gandhi,” he told reporters after meeting Srinivas.
It may take a month to complete all the procedural formalities for the merger of Congress and Praja Rajyam, which was floated in August 2008, Chiranjeevi said.
After completing the process of merger, a public meeting will be held after which the Praja Rajyam leaders would become full-fledged Congress leaders, he said.
Chiranjeevi had said earlier that Gandhi or Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi may attend the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Srinivas said they have come to an understanding that they should work for strengthening the Congress and Gandhi’s leadership.
Meanwhile, CPI state secretary K Narayana has written a letter to Chiranjeevi, alleging he cannot betray the 70 lakh voters who voted for Praja Rajyam in the hope that he would fight against the ruling Congress.
He demanded that Chiranjeevi withdrew his decision to merge Praja Rajyam with Congress. The CPI State Council held its meeting here.
-PTI