If at a public meeting of the Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi, you encounter hundreds, if not thousands of ‘Chiranjeevis’ huddled in a particular corner, don’t be surprised. That’s how the PR is trying to draw attention to its president. In the race to be one up during campaign for the ensuing elections, they have gone in for what is considered a first in Andhra Pradesh — masks of the party president, made of soft, non-toxic latex which is the same material used to make soft toys. Moving Pixels, an Ahmedabad-based company, has been entrusted the task of making the masks and the first batch was delivered to the party on the same day as Mr. Chiranjeevi’s public meeting in Rajahmundry, two days ago. Manish Bardia, CEO, Moving Pixels, said as far as India was concerned, Mr. Chiranjeevi was the second after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to use the masks. As for the masks themselves, they were also the first realistic ones that did not use caricatures as the base. “We took extensive 360 degree and grid photographs, did 360 degree profiling and took 85 measurements from different angles, after which we prepared plaster moulds. The first mould took us 15 days. The second and final one took almost a month and has been accepted in toto,” he said. Minimal use Interestingly, masks of former British Prime Minister, American presidents like Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagon and more recently, those of Barack Obama have been used primarily for Halloween parties, apart from minimal use during elections. “We expect widespread use of the masks during Mr. Chiranjeevi’s election campaign,” Mr. Bardia said. Hundreds of ‘Chiranjeevis’ will be present at public meetings of Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi

Chiru playing holi at Airport

Praja Rajyam has pooh-poohed the YSR government’s claim of providing irrigation water to 14 lakh acres in the State and wanted the Congress to come out with a white paper. While the party had promised in its 2004 election manifesto to irrigate 1 crore acres, it announced in the recent development campaign to have irrigated 14 lakh acres. “In reality, the government failed to provide an additional ayacut of even 14,000 acres. If so, we demand the Congress to release a white paper showing the projects through which water was released, the region-wise and district-wise break-up of crops sown with the additional water and the yield thus accrued to farmers,” PR State coordinating secretary (Farm Affairs), Myna Swamy, told reporters here on Thursday. Even as the farm sector continued to reel under crisis, the government unabashedly painted a rosy picture, ignoring the reports submitted by the committees headed by Jayati Ghosh and M.S. Swaminathan. He wanted that the reports be made public and the recommendations implemented. Flaying the Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy regime for failing to provide power even four hours a day to the farmers, PR promised to give quality power for ten hours.

HYDERABAD: In a frontal attack on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Praja Rajyam (PR) president K. Chiranjeevi wondered what people like those who had ‘engineered’ communal riots in the State capital could do to help improve the lot of Muslims.

Addressing a meeting of Muslims at a private function hall in the old city, he recalled former Chief Minister late Marri Chenna Reddy saying that some leaders had triggered riots in the old city to unseat him as Chief Minister. He asked people to consider whether Congress leaders, who could do anything to dethrone a Chief Minister, would ever seriously think of the welfare of the minority community.

Mr. Chiranjeevi regretted that successive governments had treated the Muslim community only as a vote bank. He said the PR, as a secular party, would look after the interests of the minorities and come up with innovative programmes and improved allocation for their development.

Babri Masjid
He accused the Congress of being responsible for the demolition of Babri Masjid and pointed a finger at the BJP for the Godhra carnage. By not speaking out against the BJP for the Godhra incidents, the TDP could not also call itself secular. Continuing to attack the BJP, Mr. Chiranjeevi said there was no way his party would ever align with such a party

Mr. Chiranjeevi announced the name of Humayun as the candidate for the newly created Jubilee Hills constituency.

Gone are the days when political heavyweights used to deliver power-packed dialogues during poll campaigns while youngsters watched them in awe. It is a total turnaround now with “little masters” ruling the roost much to the displeasure of seniors. When Jr NTR, grandson of the Telugu Desam founder, N.T. Rama Rao, delivers high-voltage dialogues a filmi style, seasoned politicians like, Mr K. Yerrannaidu, simply stand by the side to seek the blessings of the voters. The TD and the Praja Rajyam, which are vying for power in the state, are turning to “generation-next” campaigners to push them to victory. After Jr NTR’s entry into the campaign, the PR is now planning to use its own “little masters” in the canvassing battle. To counter the impact of Jr NTR’s road shows, the PR leadership is thinking about bringing young actors in the PR chief’s family, Mr Ram Charan Teja, son of Chiranjeevi, and Mr Allu Arjun, son of Mr Allu Aravind, for poll campaigning. When scribes asked about the possibility of campaigning by Teja and Arjun, the PR general secretary, Mr Aravind, did not rule it out. “We are thinking over it,” he said. “Earlier, we decided not to use their services as both of them are too young. But, now to muster the support of youngsters, we are thinking about bringing them into the campaign fold.” Sources said, Mr Teja and Arjun would soon tour the state to neutralise the impact of Junior NTR. In fact, Chiranjeevi’s son has already sung a song in the PR’s poll campaign CD to drum up the support of youngsters for the fledgling party.