Praja Rajyam

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy described Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi as a “political novice” who lacked a clear understanding of various issues. Addressing the maiden meeting of the newly appointed Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers here at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday, Dr. Reddy targeted the PR chief saying that he was ignorant of the ground realities and preferred to read a prepared text without doing an in-depth study of the issues. Dr. Reddy called upon the office bearers and other leaders to work in close coordination so that the party retained power without any difficulty. He exuded confidence that the Congress would win 235 seats. “No other political party can dream of coming to close to us,” he reportedly told the office-bearers. He also reportedly criticised the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Left parties for their desperation to forge alliances with other parties. “It is unfortunate that these parties have given a go-by to their ideologies. They only want to defeat the Congress and Rajasekhara Reddy,” he reportedly remarked. APCC president D. Srinivas told reporters that party functionaries were told to publicise the government’s developmental and welfare programmes. “Rely on word of mouth campaign,” he said and added that though advertisements in television and newspapers were okay, they had a limited reach. Rosaiah’s advice Finance Minister and APCC Campaign Committee chairman K. Rosaiah urged the leaders to highlight programmes such as Arogyasri, which was being emulated by other States. Later, Mr. Srinivas had separate interaction with the office-bearers on allotment of organisational work. He is understood to have discussed issues such as inclusion of office-bearers in the campaign and selection committees. – The Hindu