Chiranjeevi rejects Sonia offer to join Congress

Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) chief K. Chiranjeevi on Monday turned down the offer to join the N. Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh.

The PRP president received a surprise call from the Congress high command late on Sunday evening, inviting him to join the Reddy government.

After discussing with his party colleagues for on Monday, Chiranjeevi decided it was not in the party’s interest to join the cabinet at this stage since there was no immediate threat to the government. He later conveyed the decision to the chief minister.

“ We will continue to play the role of a constructive Opposition. If such a situation arises — when the Congress government falls short of majority because of resignation of Congress MLAs in support of Jaganmohan Reddy — we will think about extending support. But, there is no question of joining the government for three or four ministerial posts,” PRP spokesman B Vedavyas said.

According to PRP sources, a majority of leaders in the party’s political affairs committee felt joining the cabinet at this stage would send a wrong signal.

Seniors like Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao advised Chiranjeevi to watch the developments for two- three months so that “ we can have better stakes if the Congress’s position worsens further”.