Central Cabinet Berth to Chiru?

The Congress high command on Monday is believed to have offered a berth to Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi in the Manmohan Singh cabinet at the Centre if his party comes to the rescue of Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh.

Antony, who flew down to Hyderabad in a special aircraft on Monday afternoon and had a meeting with Chiranjeevi, put forth the Central cabinet berth proposal before him. This is besides four cabinet berths to the PRP in the state and a couple of MLC seats in the next council elections.

Sources said Antony conveyed a message from party president Sonia Gandhi, inviting Chiranjeevi into the Congress party, instead of just joining the government. The PRP president, while assuring to extend support to the Kiran government to provide the stability, did not make any commitment on merging the PRP with the Congress party, sources said.