Former Union ministers join Chiranjeevi’s party

HYDERABAD: Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s nascent Praja Rajyam party has received a boost with two former Union ministers, Parvathaneni Upendra and P Shiv Shankar, joining it.

Upendra, who was once a key adviser of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao and leader of the TDP in Parliament, later switched to the Congress.

Upendra was information and broadcasting minister in the National Front government headed by VP Singh in 1989-90.

He left the TDP with five other MPs in 1992 following a row over voting on the Union budget. He joins Praja Rajyam as political adviser. Upendra’s son-in-law Lagadapati Rajagopal is the Congress MP from Vijayawada.

Shiv Shankar, 80, a former Union law minister, quit the Congress some years ago. He has been made head of Praja Rajyam’s legal cell and the election manifesto committee.
Shiv Shankar was a close aide of the late Indira Gandhi and also served as minister under former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao. Subsequently, he was appointed governor of Kerala.

Upendra, 73, who will be the first major leader from the dominant Kamma community to take up a key post in Chiranjeevi’s party, said he would not contest elections. He has wide-ranging contacts in all the major political parties at the national level and is expected to use them to help the Praja Rajyam make its presence felt at the national level.

Chiranjeevi hails from the smaller Kapu community.