PRP Jolted By Congress

The announcement of the list of the 5 candidates nominated into the Legislative Council under the Governor's quota has ruffled a few feathers.

Political observers were reportedly surprised at the absence of Y S Vivekananda Reddy among the 5 nominees. The Congress leader's echoing defeat in the Kadapa by-elections is being cited as the reason that he was dropped from the MLC list.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be-erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) received yet another jolt from the Congress party.

The Congress High Command had promised an MLC seat to a PRP politico through the Governor quota, following which PRP chief Chiranjeevi had suggested that Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao be awarded the MLC seat.

However, the final list of the nominees did not feature the name of this PRP leader, which came as a shock to the party as they were not informed that Kotagiri was dropped from the list of MLC candidates.

Kurnool Backward Class (BC) leader Chakrapani, Nizamabad Scheduled Caste (SC) leader Rajeswara Rao, Chittoor ex-IPS officer Reddappa Reddy, East Godavari SC member Laxmi Shivakumari and Siddipet minority leader Faruk Hussain were nomiated as MLCs through the Governor's quota.

PRP members have expressed anger over this event, and they stated that Chiranjeevi and the rest of the party were given an opportunity to observe the true shades of the ruling party.

The Congress had intended to cash in on the sizeable fan base of the actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, and had utilized him while campaigning for the Kadapa by-elections. However, the fact that the actor was welcomed with eggs and stones narrated an entirely different story - one that seemed to have convinced the Congress that they had no use for the PRP chief.

What remains to be seen is how Chiranjeevi will respond to this turn of events, and his patience is already being tested by Sonia Gandhi's refusal to finalize the Congress-PRP merger anytime soon.