Hyderabad: Chiru rescues Kiran govt

DHNS

Hyderabad, 06 December 2011: Actor Chiranjeevi who has been the saviour of the Congress since 2009 gave the much needed helping hand to the Kiran Reddy government to defeat the united opposition-mooted no-trust motion on Monday.

 

The  just-concluded marathon session proved to be a test of political potential of the 18-member Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and 17 (16 Congress and one PRP MLA) supporters of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s faction.

 

The “opportunism” of the PRP won the day for the Congress while the loyalty factor for YSR failed to stand with Jaganmohan Reddy from whose camp 13 members went back to Congress, leaving him high and dry.

 

On Monday, Chiranjeevi’s flock made a U-turn from their Friday’s stand (that the government gave them stepmotherly treatment) and all but one voted for the Congress.

 

Had they voted against the government, then the Congress, without the full strength of 32 MLAs (including that of the Jagan faction), would have fallen. This is not the first time that the PRP has been friendly towards the Congress. Rajasekhar Reddy had termed the party’s role in 2009 as a “vote splitter,” cutting the advantage of the TDP.

 

Eventually, though the PRP got 16 per cent votes and won only 18 seats it ensured the defeat of the TDP in over 56 seats and the Congress in 22 seats. In 2009, YSR had predicted that the PRP would merge with the Congress. The party merged in August but still has a separate identity as one of its MLAs has filed a petition against the merger.