The Assembly elections scheduled in the five states are delaying the merger of the Praja Rajyam with the Congress, which in turn is pushing back the mega meeting planned by the parties. According to the Praja Rajyam sources, all the required formalities were completed and the documents had been submitted to the Election Commission in March, but the Election Commissioners have not met even once since then due to the impending Assembly elections in the five states.

“The three Election Commissioners have to meet formally and take note of the merger plan. They will then have to write to the AICC president, seeking a ‘consent’ regarding the merger. Once the AICC gives its consent, the EC will formally issue a notification on the merger of PR with the Congress,” said the Praja Rajyam senior leader and retired IAS official, Mr Uma Malleswara Rao. Talking to this newspaper, Mr Rao said that PR chief, Mr K. Chiranjeevi’s plans for a mega merger meeting, in the presence of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and AP Congress in-charge Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, sometime in the third week of April, will now have to wait for the formal orders of the EC.

“We cannot fix the meeting date as of now due to this technical glitch. Once we get a clearance we will be in a position to set the exact date,” Mr Rao added. PR leaders believe that Mrs Gandhi, while signing the papers giving consent, will also finalise a date to attend the merger meeting. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu PCC chief’s office is yet to finalise the dates or the routes for Mr Chiranjeevi’s election campaign in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The actor-turned politician, who was supposed to hit the campaign trail from Tuesday, is still waiting for the tour itinerary. “Instead of April 5, Mr Chiranjeevi will tour from April 7 to 10 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. We expect the schedule to reach us by tomorrow,” PR sources said. April 11 is going to be the last date for poll campaigning in TN.