Congress, Desam rule out PR effect

Hyderabad, April 9: Both the Congress and the Telugu Desam believe that Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam would not get more than 30 seats and 15 per cent of the vote. Each party agrees that the PR will eat into its vote bank, but says that the other one will be worst affected.

The TD chief spokesperson, Prof. Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, told this correspondent that the TD would lose 5 to 6 per cent of votes to the PR, which would get 12-15 per cent of the vote. The rest would come from the Congress.
The PCC general secretary, Mr Gidugu Rudraraju, claimed that while the Praja Rajyam would get around 15 per cent vote, the TD would lose 10 per cent and the rest would come from the Congress.
Both leaders said the PR influence would be almost negligible in Telangana and in many segments in Rayalaseema. The PR would be confined to the coastal belt from Srika-kulam to Nellore due to its influence over certain castes and groups.
“I believe there is a rethinking by youth and by members of the Kapu community which is predominant in the areas that prefer Chiranjeevi,” Mr Venka-teswarlu said. “They believe there is no chance of his becoming Chief Minister. They are wise, they will prefer us to the Congress.”
“Chiranjeevi wields some influence among the traditional Congress voters in Krishna, Guntur, Praksam and Nellore districts but not to the extent of damaging our prospects,” Mr Rudraraju said.
“Now those sections are realising there is no possibility of Chiranjeevi becoming Chief Minister, and they are coming back to our fold,” he said.
Both parties fear Chiran-jeevi will cut into more than 20 per cent of their votes in the 34 seats in West and East Godavari districts.
In 2004, the Congress had got 1,37,93,461 votes or 38.58 per cent, against the TD’s 1,34,44,168 votes and 37.60 per cent share.