Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, who launched the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) on August 26, 2008, formally joined the Congress here on Saturday in the presence of its general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
The Tirupati MLA of the PRP praised Mr. Gandhi as the “ray of hope” and future Prime Minister.
He filled up the form seeking primary membership of the party and shook hands with Mr. Gandhi at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in the presence of senior Congress leaders.
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He declared: “I will remain in the Congress for the rest of my life. I will be a loyal worker...I thank Rahulji, our Prime Minister in the future.” Mr. Gandhi welcomed him to the party.
Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Janardhan Dwivedi, S. Jaipal Reddy and Motilal Vohra were present. The other functionaries and legislators of the PRP would join the Congress in Hyderabad on Monday.
Mr. Chiranjeevi, who was projected by the media earlier as another N.T. Rama Rao in the making, even declared while launching his organisation, which is now a recognised State political party, that the PRP would be “an alternative to the Congress and the TDP” and strive “to protect the poor, maintain social justice and fight corruption.”
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Though his party had won 18 out of 294 seats in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections in 2009, on February 6 this year he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and and announced the PRP's merger with the Congress “without any pre-condition and said he has no selfish motive.”
Mr. Chiranjeevi is known for his support for the integrated Andhra Pradesh even as a section of the Congress legislators are fighting for separate Telangana.
He belongs to the majority Kapu community and hails from West Godavari district (in coastal A.P.).
Earlier he had told media that the merger decision was taken keeping in mind the “best interests” of A.P. people as the PRP and Congress fought for social justice.
Convenor of the OBC MPs forum and former APCC president V. Hanumantha Rao welcomed Mr. Chiranjeevi into the Congress fold and said the latter would get benefitted a lot due to the “magnanimity” of Ms. Gandhi.
Mr. Rao said he was happy that Mr. Chiranjeevi wanted to fight for social justice.