Praja Rajyam, party of political discards

All Chiranjeevi’s Men

Many retired leaders who had gone out of circulation are trying to breathe new life into their political careers. These discarded politicians have found a platform in Praja Rajyam Party. After years of political hibernation, some of them are trying to reinvent themselves. Here is the profile of the political non-entities.

P Upendra

Parvathaneni Upendra had to bow out of the TDP following a conspiracy allegedly hatched by Chandrababu Naidu. While in the TDP, Upendra had served as a minister for parliamentary affairs, information and broadcasting in 1989-90. Upendra was the second-in-command in the TDP under NTR and served as a minister of state in the VP Singh-led National Front government at the Centre. Upon his exit from the TDP, Upendra spent a couple of years as an unattached member in the Rajya Sabha. He joined the Congress and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vijayawada in 1996.

Upendra went into political oblivion since losing the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. After the 1999 debacle, he tried to enter the Rajya Sabha several times but was unsuccessful. He succeeded in getting a ticket for his son-in-law, Lagadapati Rajagopal to contest as Parliament member from Vijayawada. Upendra and Rajgopal had family disputes and now they are back in good terms. He failed to make a mark on his own outside the TDP. Now, Upendra is the political advisor to the Praja Rajyam Party.

P Shiv Shankar

While Upendra quit the TDP in 1992, Shiv Shankar quit the Congress in 2004 and since then he has been keeping away from active politics. Shiv Shankar is head of the manifesto committee and legal cell of the PRP.
A legal expert, Shiv Shankar was a close aide of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and served as a minister in her Cabinet.

He was a member of the Cabinet under Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao.
Shiv Shankar had gone into hibernation after he was denied a party ticket in 2004. Shiva Shankar accompanied Natwar Singh in the four-member delegation that went to Iraq in the great oil-for-food scam. In the oil-for-food scam, Natwar used his position to provide business prospectus to his son Jagat Singh to the tune of eight million barrels of oil.

There were reports that Shiv Shankar had met TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat before joining the Praja Rajyam Party. But nothing came of it and Shiva Sankar disappeared from the scene. After four years in political hibernation, he resurfaces thanks to Praja Rajyam Party.

Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah

The ‘silent parliamentarian’ who spoke more in Hyderabad than in Delhi is a perennial dissident. As his past track proves Jogaiah is a rank opportunistic politician who is in the habit of changing political parties. He joined the TDP, later joined the Congress, took a somersault into the BJP and then returned to Congress to become an MP.

Hailing from Kapu caste, Jogaiah is desperate to get into the good books of Chiranjeevi. However, Chiranjeevi is said to upset with Jogaiah for dashing off a letter opposing the appointment of Pawan Kalyan as Yuva Rajyam president. Jogaiah’s contention was that it would send a wrong signal to the people that the PRP is being run by family members.

In the letter, Jogaiah wondered if the huge crowds were merely coming to see their favourite matinee idols or would also vote for them. Jogaiah is being sidelined by the party leaders after his letter embarrassed PRP’s the top brass. This became evident when Jogaiah was selected only as one of the 30 members in PRP’s manifesto committee set up by Chiranjeevi. Jogaiah has differences with Parakala Prabhakar since their BJP days.

K Vidhyadher Rao

Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao was a former minister and MLA from 1983 to 2004. TDP boss Chandrababu expelled Rao for going against the party discipline. Rao first entered the Assembly in 1983 as an independent and got elected on TDP ticket in 1985. Rao had strong differences with Naidu and was accused of promoting groupism in the party. Rao had a running fued with Kothapalli Subbarayudu who recently joined the PRP. Both had an uneasy relationship while they were in the TDP. It will now be interesting to see how Subbarayudu fits in the PRP given his acrimony with another senior Rao of the same district. How the two get along in PRP remains to be seen.

Tammineni Sitaram

He served the TDP in various capacities since the past 25 years. The former TDP minister had differences with the party’s strongman in north coastal Andhra and MP Yerran Naidu. Sitaram accused Yerran Naidu of being a dictator. He is likely to contest against his arch-rival Yerran Naidu from Srikakulam.

Bhooma Nagi Reddy

He was elected to Assembly in 1992 following the death of his brother Bhuma Sekhar Reddy. From 1996 to 2004, he represented the Nandyal constituency. There are several criminal cases against the Rayalseema leader. A case was registered against Bhuma Nagi Reddy including assaulting an inspector in Obulapuam. Nagi Reddy and his wife Shobha Nagi Reddy are notorious factionists in Rayalaseema region. Chiranjeevi’s talk of rooting out factionism should be taken with a pinch of salt with both the factionists joining the PRP fold.

All of them sidelined

Senior leaders Shiv Shankar, Upendra, Vidyadhara Rao or Harirama Jogaiah were never regular to PRP office. They visited PRP office only when there were meetings with Chiranjeevi. One of the reasons for their lack of interest is that there is nothing much for them to do. There are no strategy meetings, no discussions with them on how to carry out further campaign. All that Chiranjeevi is doing now is meeting his fans and people coming in large numbers to the party office. So, there is nothing much for seniors to do.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/PRP_seniors_sore_at_mega_snub_/articleshow/3538669.cms