In a blow to Chief Minister K Rosaiah and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president D Srinivas, the Congress high command decided not to forge an alliance with Praja Rajyam Party to contest elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

The high command, which was very keen on the alliance with Chiranjeevi to counter the pro-Jaganmohan Reddy camp, decided to scrap it after coming under pressure from senior Congress leaders, MPs and MLAs of Andhra. Sources said the high command did not want more Congress leaders to shift to the Jaganmohan camp because of their dissatisfaction with the proposed alliance.

Sources in APCC said that the high command bowed to intense pressure from some Congress leaders like, L Rajagopal who argued that it would show the party, which swept power in 2004 and 2009 with absolute majority, in poor light. The Congress leaders, including about 100 MLAs, opined that the Congress was capable of winning the maximum number of seats on its own.

Health Minister Danam Nagender who is president of the Greater Hyderabad District Congress Committee feels that the Congress needs no alliances. “This kind of alliances with smaller parties shows the Congress in poor light and it may backfire also,” Nagender said on Monday.

Late Monday evening, Congress general secretary in-charge of Andhra Affairs Veerappa Moily said that when there are different opinions within the party, it was better to avoid such controversial issues at a critical juncture like this. “We are running short of time and we cannot afford to have such issues at the back of our mind,” he said.

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