In a major political development, Nava Telangana Party (NTP) headed by Andhra Pradesh ex-home minister T Devender Goud merged on Thursday with Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).

NTP, founded in July 2008, is the second Telangana-specific political outfit next only to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao. “PRP has similar views on Telangana. This merger would only further our fight to achieve a separate state,” Goud said. Goud was appointed PRP vice-president after the merger.

PRP, which is still in its infancy as the elections are round the corner, has been looking for a stronghold in the Telangana region. Though it had tried for an alliance with TRS, the process did not go beyond initial talks.

Meanwhile, the NTP has been suffering from several deficiencies including the fund support. The party, founded by Goud after walking away from Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, could not attract any major leader to join it. Even though Goud has been touring Telangana on his own to mop up the support, insiders claim the party does not have enough support to field its own candidates.

“NTP’s merger will strengthen PRP. We are all for Telangana. But our objective is not just to achieve a political or geographical Telangana, but a socially-evolved Telangana. We will all work towards that,” Chiranjeevi said.

Political analysts have written off the merger and prefer not to give importance to the development. “For NTP, it is a question of survival. For PRP, it is a question of having a Telangana face in the top leadership. Both are very young in the political scene. But the merger is not likely to have any impact on the overall political scene of the state,” a senior Congress politician said.

KV Ramana/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication