Megastar Chiranjeevi is still struggling to get a common election symbol for his Praja Rajyam Party. He moved the court and managed to get directions to Election Commission to consider it. Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao has given a free advice to Chiranjeevi on this. “Since Chiru is talking too much against Maha Kootami, it is better he join hands with the Congress. He will not only get a common symbol, hand, for his candidates, but can also get an Assembly ticket without any hassles. It is a different matter whether he will win or not,” he said. Though it is KCR’s crooked and cruel joke on PRP, political observers say PRP would not have any truck with Congress at all before elections. However, there is every possibility of PRP having post-poll understanding with Congress, if there is a hung Assembly and Congress falls short of majority. How? Since there is no common symbol, it would be easy for the Congress to lure a few PRP legislators to form the government!

HYDERABAD: The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) urged Governor N D Tiwari to recommend the President of India to order an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into Satyam and Heritage scandals. Party president Chiranjeevi today called on the Governor and submitted a memorandum to this effect. Senior leaders of the PRP P Upendra, Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, Ch Harirama Jogaih, C Ramachandraiah and KSR Murthy were also present. Chiranjeevi also urged the Governor to allow prosecution of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as prima-facie evidence was there. Speaking to the media later, Chiranjeevi said the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) did not have the moral right to speak on corruption as its president had sown the seeds for it. The Satyam scandal began in the TDP regime and the Congress Government had fostered it, he alleged. The Government deliberately shielded former Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju from the inquiry by the SEBI and other Central agencies, he alleged. The Government had awarded a gigantic project like the construction of Metro Rail to Maytas corporation, even though it did not have the capacity to carry out such a project, Chiranjeevi said. Meanwhile, in the memorandum submitted to the Governor, Chiranjeevi stated that an unholy nexus had developed between the politicians and the corporate firms and the Satyam scandal was an example. Even though it was a fact that the CID was not capable of handling cases like this, the Chief Minister had entrusted the case to it and the action was aimed at pre-empting the intervention of Central organisations like the SEBI, the SFIO and the Income Tax department, he alleged. Chiranjeevi alleged that the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were coercing the companies which had benefitted to invest part of their gains in the companies floated by his kith and kin. As far as the selling of shares in the Raghuram cements and the Jagati publication were concerned, gross violation of the laws of the FEMA, the FDI and the Income Tax departments had taken place, Chiranjeevi alleged.

Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi today declared its second candidate for the forthcoming elections naming Ravi Venkateshwara Rao from Gudivada constituency in Krishna district.

Earlier in the day, he had declared Arunathara as candidate from the Jukkal constituency in Nizamabad.

Chiranjeevi participated in a meeting in which Ravi Venkateshwara Rao joined the party.

Speaking on the occassion he said that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had ignored the services of Ravi’s family, who had represented the Gudiwada constituency from 1984 and had instead given the seat to Kodali Nani in 2004.

The move was intended to serve the interests of ‘somebody’ in the Telugu Desam, he added. Chiranjeevi exuded confidence that his party would win a majority of the seats in Krishna district.