PRP Merges With Congress

Putting to an end the wide-spread speculation of a proposed merger between the two parties, Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) President K Chiranjeevi today announced an unconditional merger of the party with the Congress, in the national capital after a meeting with the Congress party President Sonia Gandhi.

Talking to mediapersons, Chiranjeevi said, "The merger has been effected keeping in mind the larger interests of the state rather than personal gains." He further stated that the Praja Rajyam Party was not big enough to bring any significant improvement in social justice by itself, and that a merger with Congress would provide it a larger platform to attain its objectives.

The PRP chief had gone to meet the Congress president after Defence Minister A K Antony had called on him at his residence in Hyderabad, inviting him for talks on a possible merger with the Congress.

Union Law Minister and party in-charge for Andhra Pradesh affairs, Veerappa Moily, welcomed the merger, and said, "Chiranjeevi will be a great Congress leader and an asset to the party. He has been a champion of people's causes, and his vision coincides with the obectives of the Congress."

When asked about the prospects of his joining the state cabinet, Chiranjeevi said that the point was not discussed in the meeting, and that he himself will not be part of the Cabinet.

This crucial merger is being seen as a step taken by the Congress to tackle the threat of former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's yet-to-be launched party. The Congress has been facing the heat for quite some time now, with its legislators migrating to Jagan's camp and Jagan warning of an imminent coup.

Reacting to the news of the merger, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) launched a scathing attack, terming it as a conspiracy of the Congress hatched in YSR's regime to split the TDP's votes in the 2009 elections by creating the PRP as an opposition to the Congress and getting the votes of like-minded people, and then merging the party with the Congress itself now, thus betraying the people who had voted for the PRP.

The TDP also said that the PRP had cheated the people by not carrying out the objectives stated in its election manifesto, merging with the Congress instead.