Political Diary

Praja Rajyam Party chief K Chiranjeevi on Thursday rejected the criticism that his one-year-old party has become an "extension of Congress." Chiranjeevi asserted that they were acting as a responsible opposition party on all issues. "Being an opposition party does not mean that we should be shouting at the government all the time on every issue. Haven't we strongly opposed the government on mines leasing issue in the Assembly today," he said. PRP was reacting appropriately to every issue with people's interest in mind, he said. Asked if his effort to form an alternative group of opposition parties, excluding Telugu Desam, fails going by the events in Assembly today, Chiranjeevi said, "We never tried to form any separate group as such. Our objective was to ensure that all opposition parties got due opportunity in the House to raise issues of public concern. Our meeting was mainly to ensure better co-ordination." Two days ago, Chiranjeevi held a meeting with leaders of non-Congress and non-TDP parties like LokSatta, CPI, CPM, TRS and BJP in a bid to form a separate group and put an end to the "dominance" of Congress and TDP in the House.