Hyderabad, November 04: The alliance between the Congress and the Praja Rajyam Party may be off for now, but efforts to get megastar Chiranjeevi into the Congress fold or at least have an electoral understanding with his party in the next Assembly elections are definitely on.
PCC president D Srinivas, who is reportedly the main architect of the alliance which, of course, died in infancy following opposition from Jagan Mohan Reddy’s camp, has not lost hope. According to sources, Srinivas wants to keep the efforts going since Congress president Sonia Gandhi had not said no to the proposal.
The miscarriage of the alliance between the two parties was on account of the Congress’ national leadership not intending to push Jagan Mohan Reddy too far and buy a new headache in the form of a revolt from his camp.
But the PRP, which became a laughing stock at the end of the day, is quite angry with the Congress. After announcing that it would not have anything to do with the Congress, it has also ruled out the possibility of merger either now or in the distant future. Says a PRP legislator: ‘‘There is no question of merger.
In future, we may have an alliance.’’ After Srinivas announced the alliance day before yesterday, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s supporters left all caution to winds and made it very clear that they would not lie low forever. The most vociferous of them was Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy who said yesterday that if any one tried to suppress Jagan Mohan Reddy, Newton’s third law would work and there would be equal and opposite force to thwart any such attempts.
But Srinivas’s supporters insist that the alliance with the PRP is in the interest of Congress and there was no need for Jagan Mohan Reddy to get scared of the possibility of Chiranjeevi overshadowing him. They recall the efforts made during YS Rajasekhara Reddy time to get the megastar on the Congress’ side. The late CM knew it would be beneficial to both parties, they reason.
Srinivas, who received the first blow from Jagan Mohan Reddy’s camp when the latter blew up the alliance plan at conceptual stage itself, says there is no need for the Congress and PRP members to get disheartened. ‘‘The Congress wanted to have an alliance with the PRP for the GHMC elections with an eye on 2014 Assembly polls. We had thought the GHMC alliance would be a step in the direction of finally making Chiranjeevi merge his party with the Congress,’’ Srinivas told his confidants.
The PCC chief apparently is of the view that if the PRP merges with the Congress or remains as a poll ally, the synergy will be unbeatable. The Congress has just 155 MLAs in the Assembly as against the magic figure of 148 to form the government. If Chiranjeevi is on the Congress’ side, the tally of MLAs would go up by 18.
The PCC chief ’s supporters refute the charge that roping in Chiranjeevi was an attempt to deal a blow to Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Congress national leadership’s top priority is protection of the party’s interests. It knows how to protect Jagan and at the same time get Chiranjeevi also help the Congress grow. Jagan is unnecessarily getting worked up not realising how the party at Delhi functions, they say.
–Agencies