honeymoon between the Congress and the Prajarajyam Party ended even before it could begin with Chiranjeevi’s party late on Monday night stating that it had called off the proposed electoral alliance for the GHMC polls due to internal differences within the ruling party.
“We have decided to go it alone due to internal differences within the Congress. We will be announcing our first list of candidates on Tuesday,” PRP politburo member C Ramachandraiah told the media at the end of a day of hectic political developments in the state capital that saw the Jagan camp scuttle the Congress-PRP alliance that was firmed up a day before by PCC chief D Srinivas.
Even as Chiraneevi returned to Hyderabad and chaired a meeting of his party’s political affairs committee and endorsed an alliance with the Congress not only for the GHMC polls but also on a long-term basis, Kadapa Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy also landed in Hyderabad and was closeted in meetings with his loyalists including ministers and Rajya Sabha MP K V P Ramachandra Rao at the CM’s Camp Office.
The Jagan camp’s opposition to the alliance with PRP is because they want him to be the only crowd puller for the Congress in the campaign and that Chiranjeevi, if part of the campaign, would overshadow him. After the meeting, agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy announced to the media that they did not approve of the Congress having an alliance with the PRP. “If the PRP wants to merge with the Congress, they are more than welcome. But, as for an alliance, there is no need as the Congress can win on its own.”
Another Jagan loyalist and health minister Danam Nagender too vehemently opposed the move saying that there was no need for an alliance when the party was well poised to win the elections on its own. Meanwhile, MPs S Hari (Anakapalli) and Ponnam Prabhakar (Karimnagar), in separate statements, said they would go to Delhi to register their opposition to the alliance.
In this backdrop, the high command sought to placate the Jagan camp by stating that no alliance has been struck as of yet with any party. “There is no alliance as of now with any party. The talk about an electoral pact with the PRP is not correct. It is a non-issue,” Moily told the media in New Delhi.
PRP president Chiranjeevi initially expressed surprise over Moily’s statement that no alliance has been agreed upon. “I am surprised at the statement. I have not received any communication to the effect. We are of the view that the Congress-PRP alliance is a win-win situation for both the parties,” he told the media. However, a little later, Ramachandraiah announced that the party decided to call off the alliance with the Congress due to internal bickering within it. By aborting the alliance with the PRP, the Jagan camp seems to have won a moral victory of sorts.
This is because, according to sources, DS made the announcement of a poll pact with the PRP after obtaining a green signal from the high command. “The PCC president, senior leaders K Keshava Rao, V Hanumantha Rao and minister Botsa Satyanarayana had met central leaders and convinced them of the advantage of having an alliance with the PRP. It was only after that the high command okayed the alliance,” a leader said.
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