The Praja Rajyam Party on Monday took a wise decision not to join the Congress governemtn headed by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in the wake of latest political developments.
PRP political affairs committee which met under the leadership of party president K Chiranjeevi for three hours in the evening, decided to turn down the offer by the Congress high command to join the Kiran government, since there is no immediate threat to the government in the wake of the decision taken by the MLAs supporting resigned MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy not to resign from their membership at this stage.
So, it is not appropriate for the PRP to join the Kiran government at this stage. “We will continue to play the role of constructive opposition in the present government, too, as we had been doing in the last one and a half years. If such a situation arises, when the Congress government falls short of majority due to resignation of the Congress MLAs in support of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, we will think about extending support to the government from outside,” PRP spokesman B Vedavyas told media persons.
According to the PRP sources, there were conflicting opinions at the party’s political affairs committee about joining the Congress government. Initial reports said Chiranjeevi would ask for at least six cabinet berths from among 18 MLAs of the party, but Kiran said he could at the most offer four berths.
However, majority of the party leaders felt that it would send wrong signals to the party cadres and the people that the PRP was taking advantage of the internal crisis in the Congress party and craving for power. “By joining the Cabinet, we will be unnecessarily creating a sort of disgruntlement among the ministerial aspirants within the Congress. There is no point in joining the government when there is no threat to the ruling party. Let us watch the developments in the Congress party closely for two or three months. We can have better stakes if the Congress party position worsens further due to revolt by Jagan group,” seniors like Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao advised Chiranjeevi.
