Putting an end to days of speculation,the Praja Rajyam Party decided not to join the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. PRP will continue the play the role of a "constructive opposition party" but will ensure that the state does not face a mid-term poll in view of the developments in the ruling Congress party,senior party leaders Buragadda Vedavyas and K Kannababu said. Briefing newsmen at the end of a lengthy meeting of the PRP's Political Affairs Committee,in which the MLAs also took part,Vedavyas and Kannababu maintained that their party never aspired to join the Congress government. The PAC meeting was chaired by PRP president K Chiranjeevi at his Jubilee Hills residence here. There was intense speculation that the Congress High Command was keen on taking PRP into the Kiran Kumar Reddy government by offering at least three Cabinet berths. The move to take PRP into the Cabinet was aimed at keeping rebel Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in check,it was thought. As per initial inputs,PRP was supposed to join the government only in the second round of Cabinet expansion in December but a late night phone call from the Chief Minister to the PRP president fuelled speculation that the third largest party would indeed be accommodated in the first round itself. "All news about our joining the government is only speculative. We never intended nor are interested to join the government," they pointed out. They,however,indicated that the PRP would extend support to the Congress in case the internal crisis in the ruling party threatened to destabilise the government. "We have discussed the latest political developments in the state,particularly in the aftermath of the apparent crisis in the Congress. But we have not discussed anything about joining the government," Vedavyas and Kannababu said. Replying to a question,they said the telephone call Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy made to their party chief Chiranjeevi late last night was only a "courtesy call". "Chiranjeevi told us that he did not discuss anything about joining Kiran Kumar's government," they said.
