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Praja Rajyam not keen on alliances now

HYDERABAD: The Praja Rajyam party has sought to downplay the political significance of the meeting of Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh, Jaya Bachchan and Jayaprada with Mr. Chiranjeevi slated for Sunday.

It described the meeting as a ‘courtesy call’ by the Samajwadi party leaders to congratulate Mr. Chiranjeevi on launching his party.

When his attention was drawn to Mr. Singh’s statement that the SP was willing to join hands with Praja Rajyam in Andhra Pradesh and that the Bachchan family would even participate in the election campaign, party spokesman Parakala Prabhakar said, “let us hear from the horse’s mouth about it”.

Asked to react to CPI (M) secretary B.V. Raghavulu’s remark that they would discuss in the party’s Polit Bureau the issue of sailing with Praja Rajyam in the elections, Mr. Parakala said that his party leaders were presently preoccupied with creating the organisational structure and gauging people’s support. At the same time, he asserted that the party was not averse to talking to potential allies and even political rivals.

The Telugu Desam Party has derided SP’s attempts to move close to Praja Rajyam. TDP MP K. Yerran Naidu said the SP was hobnobbing with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh by holding seat adjustment talks with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Simultaneously, it was expressing interest in Praja Rajyam which was opposed to the Congress in the State. He said Mr. Chiranjeevi owed an explanation to the people. The BJP too described Mr. Singh’s move as ‘opportunistic’.

Meanwhile, irked by the unruly scenes outside his Jubilee Hills office on Friday, Mr. Chiranjeevi spent three hours at a wedding hall in Madhapur where he met thousands of fans.

He handed over cheques of Rs. one lakh each to the families of five persons who were killed in firecracker blast at Kakinada on August 26. A fan, Sunil C., also gave Rs. 2 lakh each to these families.

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