Praja Rajyam spokesman quits

The newly formed Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, which is expected to make a turnaround in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, suffered another jolt on Thursday, when party spokesman Prakala Prabhakar handed over his resignation accusing some fellow partymen of cheating people.

Though he didn’t name anyone, he launched a bitter attack on the leadership branding it a “poisonous tree”. He termed the party run like a ‘commercial organisation’ rather than a political party.

Speaking at the party office in Hyderabad, and explaining the reason for his decision, he told reporters that allegation made by many were true to a large extent that some party men have cheated people.

This is the second major blow to Chiranjeevi after last week's resignation of party vice-president C. Anjaneya Reddy, a former police officer. He left the party on similar claims that there was lack of transparency in the manner party tickets were allotted for assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier, alleging the party more a film production house, C. Venkateswara Rao, president, State, Chiranjeevi Fans Association, who was deeply involved in promoting Chiranjeevi as an able political figure, too announced his resignation. He later joined the ruling Congress.

As per reports, dozens of leaders have so far quit from the primary membership of the party in the last two weeks over the choice of candidates. With this, the prospect of PRP in the forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls is now in question.