Praja Rajyam party president Chiranjeevi on Monday sprang a surprise by announcing that his party would also throw the hat in the ring for the Rajya Sabha.
The Praja Rajyam has only 17 MLAs now following the resignation of one legislator whereas a candidate requires a minimum of 42 votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Without going into details, Mr. Chiranjeevi said the name of the PR candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat would be announced soon. “We are in the fray,” he declared.
On the exodus of several leaders from his party, he remarked that “migratory birds had gone, but the ‘Rama chilukalu' (parrots) were with him.” He strongly denounced the TRS leaders' remarks on his horse-riding adventure in Payakaropeta during his tour of Visakhapatnam district to fight for early completion of Polavaram project. He described the remarks as ‘nauseating'.
He said there was good response to his tour, which he had taken up under the banner ‘Polavaram Project Sadhana' to bring pressure on Central government. He welcomed the statements of Ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao and Vatti Vasantha Kumar expressing willingness to face an inquiry into allegations of corruption levelled against them.
“The probe should be made by a sitting judge. And it would be better if the Ministers resigned first to facilitate impartial probe,” he said.
Later, Mr. Chiranjeevi visited the pollution-hit old city and expressed surprise how such a beautiful city had pockets severely affected by coal-dust pollution.
