Disappointed by the inordinate delay in the induction of PRP members into the state cabinet as suggested by him, party chief Chiranjeevi is reportedly considering the revival of his party and may soon have discussions on the issue with his well wishers and senior party colleagues.

CM Kirankumar reddy cleverly said that PRP has not officially merged with the congress in the assembly and the induction of PRP MLAs into the cabinet would be possible only after the merger is officially announced by the Speaker.

Undoubtedly, this is only a lame excuse put forth by Kirankumar to buy time before the two Chiru men, MLC Mr C. Ramachandraiah and MLA Mr Ganta Srinivasa rao, are finally inducted into the cabinet.

As political observers feel, the real reasons for the CM playing the spoilsport are different. Kirankumar, who is yet to consolidate his position as CM, fears the induction of PRP men into the cabinet may lead to consolidation of the mega star’s position in the state congress and boost up his chances of becoming the CM by the next assembly elections.

No doubt Chiru has his own charisma and had garnered 18 per cent of the total votes polled in the last assembly elections. Now, the mega star can pull more percentage of votes in the next assembly elections as he is now part of the congress establishment.

In fact, by asking two ministerial berths for his men, Chiru has sought very little from the congress leadership as a quid pro quo for throwing his charisma with the congress and merging his party with it. If there is proper guidance for him, Chiru would have demanded more from the congress leadership for what he has done to the party.

Kirankumar is not popular even in his own constituency and has no political clout of his own either in the state in general on in his own constituency in particular. Even most of his ministerial colleagues do not see the CM as a winner for the party and they know very well Kiran alone will not get them reelected in the next elections.

Frankly speaking, congress candidate wouldn’t have been polled the number of votes he got in Kadapa Lok Sabha by poll against Jagan if Chiru had not visited the district and campaigned for the congress there. Whatever the number of votes polled to congress, they were due to the mega star as the entire Balija community stood by him solidly.

In this backdrop, there is no guarantee that Kirankumar can win the Tirupati seat again for the congress on his own once the mega star moves to the central cabinet and gets elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Since Chiru needs no introduction as a congress politician, he can easily convert his charisma into votes and that could possibly spell doom to the political fortunes of Kirankumar reddy as CM after the 2014 vote.

Kirankumar has also been nurturing fears that induction of Ramachandraiah and Srinivasa rao, both belonging to the Kapu community to which the mega star also belonged, would prop up the political fortunes of PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, also a Kapu leader apart from boosting up the chances of the mega star turned politician as the chief ministerial candidate after the next assembly elections.

It is therefore no surprise that Kirankumar has been trying his best to belittle Chiru in the congress establishment and curtail his political growth. (JUBS)