Chiranjeevi’s PRP to decide on Congress offer soon

    By IANS,

    Hyderabad : Actor-turned politician K.Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) Tuesday said it would decide within three to four days on the Congress party’s invitation to join its government in Andhra Pradesh or merge with it.

    Chiranjeevi told reporters that the party would take a decision in three to four days after due deliberations and consultations within the party.

    “We will take a decision which is acceptable to all,” he said.

    Chiranjeevi held talks with his party legislators at his residence here before leaving for the temple town of Tirupati.

    The PRP, however, said senior Congress leader A.K. Antony met the party chief only to extend an invitation to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and denied that any proposal to merge the PRP with Congress was mooted.

    “He only invited our leader to visit Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi,” PRP legislator G. Srinivas Rao told reporters.

    Antony, who is the defence minister and member of the Congress Core Committee, met Chiranjeevi here Monday, hinting at a realignment of political forces in the state.

    With rebel Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy threatening to bring down the government with the support of two dozen Congress legislators, the ruling party is desperate for a tie-up with the PRP.

    With 156 members in the 294-member assembly, Congress has only a slender majority and is looking for the support of the PRP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which have 18 and seven legislators respectively in the house.