The first-ever two-day plenary of Prajarajyam gets underway in the port city of Visakhapatnam on Wednesday even as its president K Chiranjeevi scouts for answers to convince the majority backward classes in his party of the ‘social justice’ (Samajika nyayam) plank on which the party was launched two years back.
It will be a stock-taking exercise for Chiranjeevi and his party, as there is nothing worthy of mention about its two-year existence. Though the party entered the political scene in the state as an alternative to both the Congress and TDP, it finds itself at the political crossroads with no direction.
A humiliating defeat in the 2009 elections pushed the party into total disarray with no proper hierarchy in place, except for the political affairs committee. The party suffered irreparable damage even before the elections when some of the key organisational leaders quit the party citing lack of internal democracy and absolute impropriety by party bigwigs.
At least 700 delegates are expected to participate in the plenary where the party would deliberate on its political strategy and adopt resolutions on 12 subjects like agriculture, finance, welfare, price rise, law and order, youth and women welfare, education and healthcare.
Sources said the PRP’s stand for a unified state would be reflected prominently in its political resolution. A documentary on Chiranjeevi’s film career has also been planned to keep party workers in good stead.
Though Chiranjeevi continues to be a crowd-puller, as has been evident during the recent Praja Chaitanya Yatra in five districts, it remains to be seen how he goes about motivating youth and women, who have virtually no place in the functioning of the party.
Apart from rebuilding the party at the grassroots level, the plenary would discuss at length the party’s political line in the wake of speculation that it might eventually merge with the ruling Congress.
