With the Election Commission of India formally approving Prajarajyam party's merger with Congress, PRP chief Chiranjeevi finally succeeded in making his party a part of the political history. The merger comes as a shot in the arm for the Kiran Kumar Reddy government with the Congress consolidating its tally to 182 in the state assembly. It also paves the way for at least two PRP legislators to be elevated as ministers in the next cabinet re-shuffle, which is likely to take place by the end of this month.

The Prajarajyam Party was launched by film actor Konidela Chiranjeevi on August 26, 2008, with 'social justice' as its main plank. The party that polled around 70 lakh votes and won 18 assembly seats in the last elections had its share of controversies after some leaders walked out of it even before the elections accusing it of selling away party tickets. Later, several leaders with decades of political standing walked out of the party accusing Chiranjeevi of failing to uphold democratic values within the party. In fact, most of them returned to their respective parent parties - Congress and TDP.

PRP MLC C Ramchandraiah confirmed the merger news, saying that they received a letter to this effect on Monday afternoon. Though the merger process has been on cards since February this year, some technical glitches delayed it. Barring PRP MLA B Shobha Nagi Reddy, all other party legislators have backed the PRP merger with the Congress and reiterated their faith in the leadership of Chiranjeevi. Announcing PRP's merger with the Congress in February, Chiranjeevi had said he would not run away from his responsibilities just because he planned to merge his PRP with the Congress.