Hyderabad, May 28: Signalling that it is buying insurance in case Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy hoists the flag of rebellion, the Congress national leadership on Thursday invited Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi for talks on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
The move is likely an attempt by the Congress to play it safe in the elections to the Upper House should any of Jagan’s loyalist MLAs resort to crossvoting to hurt the party high command’s candidates.
Chiranjeevi is likely to leave for Delhi on May 29. The talks between him and Congress bosses are expected to be about forging a longterm alliance with the actor’s Praja Rajyam Party which has 16 MLAs – two of its Telangana MLAs are rebels – in the Assembly whose effective strength is 282 members following resignations by 10 MLAs of TRS and one each of TDP and BJP.
The Congress has been treating Jagan’s passive defiance with kid gloves because it is keen not to upset its own applecart ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
Now that the Congress has crossed the Rubicon and delivered a veiled warning to Jagan, it is now getting its plan B ready in order to win four Rajya Sabha seats even if Jagan’s loyalists break ranks during polling. Elections to six Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh would be held on June 14 since five Congress members — Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, J D Seelam, V Hanumantha Rao, Girish Sanghi and Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy – besides the CPM’s Penuballi Madhu will be retiring on June 21.
The Congress, which has 156 members in the Assembly, will be able to win three Rajya Sabha seats without any difficulty while the TDP with its 91 can win two. But the Congress is eying a fourth seat too with the support of the MIM which has seven members and three Independents (who are associate members of the Congress). Now the Congress wants to keep the 16 PRP MLAs on its side, just in case.
–Agencies