Hyderabad, February 07: More than a merger, Sunday’s union of the PRP and the Congress announced was an acquisition of the former by the latter. In hastening Chiranjeevi’s party to the altar, the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh saw both a short-term imperative as well as a long-term strategy.
In the immediate perspective it needed the PRP’s numbers (18) in the Assembly to lend stability to the teetering government of Kiran Kumar Reddy. In the long term it hopes that the Chiranjeevi maneouvre will keep it relevant in any of the various scenarios brought upon it by the Telangana question. Should it go in for a bifurcation of the state, it will need Chiranjeevi’s popularity in coastal Andhra to beat off the challenges of Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s unnamed party. In Telangana in the event of a bifurcation, sources say that it has a similar maneouvre planned with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) of K Chandrasekhar Rao.
For now, the numbers. Before the merger, the Congress government’s stability had been uncertain what with about 25 of its MLAs (out of the CLP strength of 155) signalling interest in Jagan Mohan Reddy in case he brings push to shove. The deal with PRP would boost the Congress tally in the Assembly to 173, and therefore would deter the J men within from jumping ship and discourage potential defectors because it might be worthless after all.
Given that the 7 MLAs of the MIM are potential outside supporters, the Congress can count on a theoretical support of 180 in the house of 293 if a no-confidence motion were moved. The TDP is right now disinclined to move such a motion, because of its own imperatives, so the threat to the Kiran Kumar Reddy government would ease for the time being.
Some leaders within the Congress had been dismissing Chiranjeevi as a nonentity what with his party being reduced to rag-tag status since the 2009 election. Its 18 MLAs had been speaking at sixes and sevens and seemed to belong to no party. But the Congress decided to go ahead with the deal, but it would be a merger not an alliance. A merger would close the exit doors to the Jagan men within the PRP, the anti-defection law being what it is. No PRP MLA can challenge it, or would be disqualified if he dared. It means, all the PRP MLAs, even some of them against their will, have to support the Congress on the floor of the Assembly. That is why the Congress hastened the merger deal.
Former speaker KR Suresh Reddy says a resolution by a party’s decision making body is binding on all its MLAs. He recalled that his decision as speaker to disqualify 10 TRS MLAs was upheld by the High Court. The merger would strengthen the Congress in the Assembly without any hitches, he argued.
Senior advocate N Ramachandra Rao said the merger would be beneficial to Congress. After the merger the whip issued by the Congress would be binding on the 18 PRP MLAs, although some areas of the law would be open to question. Had it been an alliance, and not a merger, there would be room for the PRP MLAs to violate the whip of the party. Merger would shut that door.
–Agencies