Hyderabad: Putting an end to days of
speculation, the Praja Rajyam Party on Monday decided not to join
the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh.
PRP will continue the play the role of a "constructive
opposition party" but will ensure that the state does not face
a mid-term poll in view of the developments in the ruling
Congress party, senior party leaders Buragadda Vedavyas and K
Kannababu said.
Briefing newsmen at the end of a lengthy meeting of
the PRP`s Political Affairs Committee, in which the MLAs also
took part, Vedavyas and Kannababu maintained that their party
never aspired to join the Congress government.
The PAC meeting was chaired by PRP president K
Chiranjeevi at his Jubilee Hills residence here.
There was intense speculation that the Congress High
Command was keen on taking PRP into the Kiran Kumar Reddy
government by offering at least three Cabinet berths.
The move to take PRP into the Cabinet was aimed at
keeping rebel Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in check, it
was thought.
As per initial inputs, PRP was supposed to join the
government only in the second round of Cabinet expansion in
December but a late night phone call from the Chief Minister
to the PRP president fuelled speculation that the third
largest party would indeed be accommodated in the first round
itself.
"All news about our joining the government is only
speculative. We never intended nor are interested to join the
government," they pointed out.
They, however, indicated that the PRP would extend
support to the Congress in case the internal crisis in the
ruling party threatened to destabilise the government.
"We have discussed the latest political developments
in the state, particularly in the aftermath of the apparent
crisis in the Congress. But we have not discussed anything
about joining the government," Vedavyas and Kannababu said.
Replying to a question, they said the telephone call
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy made to their party chief
Chiranjeevi late last night was only a "courtesy call".
"Chiranjeevi told us that he did not discuss anything
about joining Kiran Kumar`s government," they said.
PTI
