When megastar Chiranjeevi was ruling the roost at Tollywood, there were many who used to flock around him and this also included some of the noted heroes who treated Chiru as their ‘Annayya’ and were flaunting statements that they were willing to do anything for them.
Some of the notable names are that of family star Srikanth, crazy mass masala hero Ravi Teja, super comedians Sunil and Venu Madhav. However, many in the industry now say that all those lines seem to be some eyewash as not one of them were seen doing anything for Chiru when he got into politics.
Given the cine ammunition that other political parties had, it was only Chiru and his brothers who did the canvassing for Praja Rajyam Party and none of the names mentioned gave at least one statement to support Chiru during his political journey. So the talk amongst the PRP circles and few pockets of Film Nagar is that these young actors have actually betrayed the megastar.
Praja Rajyam president K. Chiranjeevi on Tuesday declared that the party’s floor coordination with the other Opposition parties in the Assembly would strictly be ‘issue-based’.
He also stated that they were yet to decide on who they would support for the Speaker’s post in the Legislative Assembly. Asked if they would support the Congress nominee N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, or a possible candidate fielded by the Telugu Desam, he said the party would take a decision on Wednesday.
He was speaking to presspersons after a meeting of the Praja Rajyam Legislature Party, that included a training programme for first-time legislators, 15 of them, including the party president. The training had interactive sessions on privileges, rights and responsibilities of MLAs with senior, former legislators, including T. Devender Goud, Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, Kala Venkat Rao and former IAS officer KSR Murthy.
Eager for ‘real’ life role
On his feelings as he was about to enter the exalted portals of the Assembly, he was excited that he would no longer be essaying a role in ‘reel’ life.
“I am looking forward to this ‘real’ life role and live up to the expectations of the people who elected me,” he said. The Praja Rajyam president did not mince words saying film personalities elected to the Assembly had failed to deliver.
“None of those elected to this august House were able to deliver completely. I am willing to make a difference through constructive criticism without personal attacks,” he said, adding that Praja Rajyam MLAs would uphold the decorum of the House without resorting to cheap publicity.
He appointed B. Shobha Nagi Reddy (Allagadda), Ganta Srinivas Rao (Anakapalle) and Bandaru Satyananda Rao (Kothapeta) as Deputy Leaders of the party in the Assembly.
Vanga Geeta (Pithapuram) would be the party’s Whip, E. Anil (Balkonda) and Y. Ravi (Vijayawada East), secretaries, and A. Rambabu (Giddalur) treasurer.
Telugu megastar-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi Wednesday began a new innings in his career when he entered the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly as a member.
Elected from Tirupati constituency, the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) president entered the premises of the assembly to a warm welcome by his party colleagues.
However, his entry was also marked by protest from a former PRP leader Masala Eranna, who had quit the party before elections to protest the denial of ticket. Police later whisked away Eranna when he was trying to enter the house raising slogans of “Chiranjeevi down down”.
Clad in white with a green scarf, Chiranjeevi, the floor leader of PRP, took oath as member of the 13th legislative assembly, whose first session began with members taking oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India and vowed to abide by the assembly rules.
The 53-year-old Chiranjeevi, who launched PRP in August last year after a three-decade long successful film career, took oath in Telugu amid thumping of desks by his party legislators.
Before entering the house, the actor told reporters that his party would play the role of a constructive opposition and take up people’s issues in the house.
Though claiming to be a strong contender for power, PRP finished a poor third with 18 seats in 294-member assembly in April elections. Chiranjeevi himself lost the polls from Palacole in his native West Godavari district, though he was elected from temple town of Tirupati.
Bureaucrat-turned-politician Jayaprakash Narayan also made a beginning as the state legislator. The Lok Satta president was elected from Kukatpally constituency in the state capital on the slogan of clean politics.
Though Jayaprakash Narayan was the only Lok Satta candidate elected, the party made an impressive beginning by polling significant number of votes, especially in urban constituencies.
Jayaprakash Narayan, who took oath in the name of the sacred office of the legislator, had quit as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official in mid 1990s to launch Lok Satta, a movement for democratic reforms. In 2007, he turned the movement into a political party.
Earlier, the session began after state governor Narayan Dutt Tiwari administered oath to senior Congress party legislator J.C. Diwakar Reddy as protem speaker at Raj Bhavan.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the first to take oath as legislator followed by leader of opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
After the two leaders, the ministers took the oath. Two out of 35 cabinet ministers could not take oath as they were away attending the last rites of newly elected Congress legislator K. Revatipathi who died Tuesday following cardiac arrest.
His death brought the strength of Congress party to 155 in 294-member house.
For the first time in its 26-year-old history, TDP is sitting in opposition for the second consecutive term. The party bagged 92 seats against 45 seats it held in the previous assembly.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) won 10 seats, down from 26 in 2004 elections. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) improved its tally from five to seven.
Communist Party of India (CPI) won four, against six in the last elections. The strength of CPI-M came down from seven to one. BJP remained at two while three independents were also elected.
Chiranjeevi Taking Oath as MLA in Andhra Pradesh Assembly Video
P R P youth leader – Krishna district leader Vangaveeti Radha Krishna is booked under attempt to murder case by Police, allegations on Radha Krishna is that in the recent elections he has harassed an independent candidate Panduranga Rao. As that independent candidate is contesting against Radha Krishna to later warned him that he would face serious consequences If he contends against him.
The 18 member team of Chiru (Chiru +17 MLAs) were among who attended the training classes conducted at the PRP head office by Former Assembly secretary Sadasiva Reddy.
As many of the PRP MLAs are new to assembly , Sadasiva Reddy has given some tips on how to behave in the assembly.
The other senior PRP leaders such as Devendar Goud,Kala Venkat Rao and Kotagiri Vidhyadhar Rao among who provided some tips to new PRP MLAs
HYDERABAD: An unscheduled meeting of the Political Affairs Committee of Praja Rajyam has sparked off speculation on the internal turmoil in the party in the wake of the drubbing in the just concluded elections.
Interestingly, the meeting took place in the absence of party president Chiranjeevi and in the wake of speculation that those who had joined the PRP leaving the Telugu Desam are contemplating to return to the parent party.
The meet, held at the residence of PRP general secretary Allu Aravind, was attended, among others, by senior leaders Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, Tammineni Sitaram and T Devender Goud. All three are former TDP leaders.
Sources said that all former TDP men currently in PRP have been receiving feelers from Telugu Desam leadership that they could return to the partyfold.
On their part, TDP-turned-PRP leaders too seem to be of the view that they have no role to play in Praja Rajyam and would not stand to gain by continuing to remain with the party.
Apparently sensing this mood, Chiranjeevi said yesterday that those who came from TDP would not go back. As a quick follow-up, Aravind convened today’s meeting to get a feel of the situation and convince the disgruntled leaders that they should stay back.
The meeting reportedly discussed mobilisation of financial resources to run the party for the next five years and various options have been dicusssed.
Speaking to mediapersons, party PAC member Tammineni Sitaram claimed that the meeting discussed the steps to be taken to strengthen the party, particularly in the context of the upcoming local body elections.
Asked whether the party would have a truck with other parties, he said that no such decision was taken.
Asked about Chiranjeevi’s comments that they would explore the possibility of allying with other parties, Sitaram said that it was the former’s personal opinion and the issue has to be discussed in party forum.
Though elections are over, megastar Chiranjeevi has got lots of challenges ahead. This time, it could be from his fans only. Incidentally, during the election time, there was also a buzz that many of Chiru’s fans were seeing holding opposition party flags and this happened in Tirupati and Palakollu alike.
Now, the time has come when the Chiru fans will be seen during the arrival of the film ‘Magadheera’ and they might want to tie the banners. However given their political differences, it could spark new tensions between themselves so this will be another challenge for Chiru.
Many are predicting this and it has to be seen how tranquility will be maintained among Chiru fans now.
Chiranjeevi who was busy in going through his assembly constituency Tirupathi is back in Hyderabad today. Immediately after coming back to Hyderabad, he met with the leader of PRP who joined from TDP.
This is the continuation to the Allu Arviund’s dinner meeting with those same leaders yesterday at Arvind’s residence in Hyderabad.
These meetings took importance amidst rumors that the senior leaders who joined PRP leaving TDP are looking back to their parent organization..
It is known that Chiru took reassurance from those senior leader not to leave the party.
