Hyderabad, March 17 (IANS) The Praja Rajyam Party of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi Tuesday withdrew from the Andhra Pradesh High Court its plea that the Election Commission be directed to allot a common election symbol for the party candidates.
The Praja Rajyam Party withdrew the petition just before the court was to take it up for hearing. The new outfit has reportedly decided for a tie-up with a recognised party to use its symbol for the next month’s elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly.

The Praja Rajyam is likely to make a formal announcement on this Wednesday.

Chiranjeevi told IANS in a recent interview that Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had offered its symbol to the party. “But we also have other options,” he had said.

The party earlier this month again challenged in the high court the Election Commission’s refusal to allot a common symbol to its candidates.

Chiranjeevi had said his party was exploring other options while pursuing a legal battle for the common poll symbol.

The Election Commission had earlier conveyed to the PRP that a common election symbol would not be allottted to its candidates as it had not yet contested any election. It rejected the PRP’s plea last month but Chiranjeevi’s party appealed to the high court, which asked the poll panel to reconsider the issue.

After re-consideration on the court’s direction, the Election Commission again rejected the PRP plea. The party had sought a railway engine as its symbol.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi Parvathi, president of Telugu Desam Party-NTR, Tuesday said she was ready to offer her party’s symbol - lion - to the PRP. Parvathi is the widow of the late TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao.

Simultaneous elections to 294-member state assembly and 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state will be held in two phases April 16 and April 23.