It must be the most exciting day for Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi on Sunday. He is going to turn a new leaf in his political career by merging his party with the Congress. The merger has more or less been confirmed, unless there is any last minute hitch.
Chiranjeevi’s tryst with politics has not been as successful as his career in Telugu film industry. He was an uncrowned king in films till three years ago. He, his brothers and brother-in-law ruled the industry for the last couple of decades. But politics was a different stage altogether. Two and a half years in politics, Chiranjeevi has realized that there are better actors than him in this field and that in politics villains have the last laugh, but not heroes.
The PRP president thought his star power would catapult him into power, as happened in the case of former chief minister N T Rama Rao in 1983. Though he could draw huge crowds to his public meetings, he miserably failed to convert his glamour into votes. As a result, he drew blank in the Lok Sabha while managing to win just 18 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The reason was simple: there was absolutely no political vacuum in the state unlike during the period of NTR; and both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party were equally stronger with their own solid vote banks. The PRP could only get a small space in the assembly.
But yes, there was a political vacuum in the state after the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. The Congress had no mass leader to take the party off from where YSR had left it, as it failed to harness the energies of his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. The TDP was just not in a position to capitalize on the situation as its leader N Chandrababu Naidu had no credibility in the people. Under these circumstances, Chiranjeevi could have easily cash in on the situation and emerge as an effective alternative, but surprisingly, he preferred to play a second fiddle to the Congress rather than providing an alternative political platform for the people.
In the subsequent months, it has become amply clear that Chiranjeevi is just incapable of running a political party as he failed to have control on the MLAs and party leaders. That is why he started inclining towards the Congress gradually. And finally, the inevitable is happening: he is merging his PRP with the Congress.
Now the question is whether Chiranjeevi would be able to achieve political growth at least in the Congress party. One would doubt whether it is possible, because Chiranjeevi is basically not a person who can take risks and face challenges. He has taken the risk by entering politics, but it failed to work out. He is now trying to play safe. He lacks the basic qualities of a politician, who goes to any length to go up the ladder. He might have worked hard to make a film a grand success, but in politics, he turned out to be a lethargic person. He takes up a programme, but does not follow it up properly.
Perhaps, Chiranjeevi is looking for a decent post in the Congress that does not put him to much trouble. May be he prefers a Rajya Sabha seat and a union minister post. If he is made the chief minister, too, Chiranjeevi may not do justice to it, because he cannot take risks and tensions of running the administration.
The coming days would reveal how far Chiranjeevi would succeed in his real life drama!
