Political Diary

The Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi, who has been admiring the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, for quite some time now, went a step ahead on Tuesday and praised the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.This has given credence to reports that the PR may align with the Congress in forming the government if the latter falls short of numbers to form a government.Chiranjeevi said Dr Manmohan Singh was a “capable person”.The PR chief met members of his party’s political affairs committee, general secretaries and vice-presidents to review the PR’s performance in the polls.Soon after the meeting, when scribes sought to know whom he would prefer as the Prime Minister, Chiranjeevi replied: “I can’t say it now. Nobody ever thought that an efficient person like Dr Singh would emerge as the Prime Minister. Till then we only knew him as the Governor of the RBI. Like Dr Singh, another capable person might emerge after the polls.”When scribes sought to know what Chiranjeevi would do if Dr Singh sought his support after the polls, the PR chief said: “I can’t decide about it alone. All the partners in the front (Fourth Front) will have to take a collective decision on it.”Chiranjeevi again ruled out the possibility of a fractured verdict in the state.He said the Praja Rajyam would win at least 160 Assembly and 20 Lok Sabha seats and form the government.“The large turnout of women and youngsters during the elections is an indication that they voted in favour of the PR. So, I can affirm that the PR would win the elections hands down,” Chiranjeevi maintained.He said the Chief Minister and the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, are putting up a brave face on their poll performance only to keep the morale of their activists intact.