Hyderabad, February 02: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sent her trusted lieutenant A K Antony as an emissary to Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) president K Chiranjeevi in a move to make a friend of the actor-politician so that she can fight her enemy Jagan Mohan Reddy from firmer ground.
Antony, Defence Minister and member of the Congress core group, met with Chiranjeevi for an hour at his residence. He is said to have made an offer to the actor in return for his party’s support to the Kiran Kumar Reddy government. Sources said the offer includes an important post for Chiru, four berths in the Cabinet, and perhaps, some seats in the Legislative Council when elections are next due to that House. Chiru will meet Sonia Gandhi before the budget session of Parliament beginning Feb. 21 to seal the deal.
It was not clear whether the PRP will continue as a friend of the Congress or merge with the grand old party as part of the deal. Speaking to reporters after the Antony-Chiranjeevi meeting, senior PRP leader C Ramachandraiah said such issues did not figure today.
Chiranjeevi has for weeks been signalling his readiness for the dalliance, repeatedly stating that the Kiran Kumar government would certainly go to term and promising to rescue it should it get into trouble. Sources said Sonia made a surprise call to Chiranjeevi today and then sent Antony down to meet the actor. After the meeting, the emissary said: “I came here to invite Chiranjeevi to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi.”
Now that the deal with PRP is on, analysts say the Congress high command will move against some of its MLAs who have been flirting with Jagan or drop some ministers whose heart is with the former MP. First up may be disqualification proceedings against some of the Jagan MLAs. Apart from the PRP, the Congress is also looking to the MIM for another contingency deal.
—Agencies