Sonia may attend PR merger

Praja Rajyam’s long-awaited formal merger with the Congress is expected to take place at a meeting this month. The PR chief, Mr K. Chiranjeevi, has invited the UPA chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and other Congress bigwigs for the meeting, likely to be held in the city.

Mr Chiranjeevi, who had a hectic schedule in New Delhi on Wednesday, is confident that the formalities will be completed in two weeks’ time. “We are awaiting a green signal from the Election Commission of India and the Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on our merger proposal. We have completed the required formalities,” Mr Chiranjeevi said. He said the party has submitted the required documents to EC as per the party constitution, which needs three-fourth majority support.

“Complaints against the merger will not hold good now. The EC too has stated that the proposal was in order,” he disclosed. The PR chief met Mr Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Mrs Gandhi, and the Union minister in-charge of AP affairs, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, in New Delhi. Besides the merger issue, the PR chief’s role in state politics also came up. However, he could not meet Mrs Gandhi since she was away in Rai Bareli, but he will be meeting her soon. Mr Chiranjeevi said: “I have basically come here to finalise the merger proposals and am organising a public meeting in this regard. We are also considering whether to merge the party at a big public meeting or go in for a low-key affair. No issue was discussed other than this.”

Asked about objections raised by some PR members, including Ms Bhuma Shobha Nagireddy, he said it would not have affect the merger. “No one can stop the merger now. In fact, we have mentally merged with the Congress a long time back,” he quipped. On the issue of disqualifying two MLAs, who had joined the Jagan camp, he said that as Mr Katasani Rami Reddy has returned to the party, PR will ask the Speaker not to proceed against him, but against Ms Nagireddy, he would be asked to take action.(DC)

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