Concerned over the erosion of its strength in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress leadership rushed its senior leader and CWC member A.K. Antony to Hyderabad on Monday to meet Praja Rajyam (PR) president K. Chiranjeevi for cementing its relations with the film star's party “for mutual benefit”.
During the nearly two-hour meeting with Mr. Chiranjeevi at his Jubilee Hills residence, Mr. Antony extended an invitation on behalf of AICC president Sonia Gandhi to meet her “at the earliest” for forging a formal political alliance.
Though the two parties had friendly relations since the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha last year, there was no formal tie-up between the PR and the Congress.
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Mr. Chiranjeevi, according to sources, was asked by Mr. Antony to come up with a proposal for sharing power and indicated that the ruling party was prepared for “the bargain”.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president D. Srinivas and several senior leaders of PR participated in the meeting.
Significantly, Mr. Antony and Mr. Chiranjeevi were closeted together for 15 minutes when no aides were present. Sources said Mr. Antony wanted the PR chief to come up with specific proposals on whether his party was willing to join the government by accepting some Cabinet berths or was in favour of a merger.
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The urgency for the meeting between Ms. Gandhi's envoy and the PR chief stems from the ruling party's worries about its waning stock and defection of its MLAs to the camp of rebel Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
Though the date for Chiranajeevi-Sonia Gandhi meeting has not been fixed yet, it is likely to be held ahead of the Assembly's budget session on February 17.
The Congress party is keen that the ‘loose friendship' with the PR must be cemented into a formal one as a hedge against the possibility of the Telugu Desam Party tabling a no-confidence motion against the government during the budget session even though the main Opposition party has denied any such plans.
Talking to reporters later, PR leader C. Ramachadraiah maintained that the issue of the PR joining the Cabinet did not figure at the meeting. Mr. Antony had only spoken about further strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the two parties. “All the issues will be discussed during Mr. Chiranjeevi's meeting with Ms. Gandhi,” he said.