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2009-08-26
I am disappointed - Chiru
Normally, it should have been a festive occasion for the Praja Rajyam Party, which has completed one year of its formation on Wednesday. But the euphoria was glaringly missing at the PRP office.
PRP president Chiranjeevi hoisted the party flag at the party office and addressed a small gathering, before returning to the Assembly to participate in the proceedings. He admitted that the election results were a disappointment to him, as the PRP could not come to power as expected.
“However, we are still committed to our goal of achieving social justice. We are not worried about the people who had left us. Those who were with me (read Allu Aravind) at the time of founding the party are still with me (where is Dr Mitra?) and we will take the party forward into victory in 2014 elections. We are going to win the Tekkali byelection and show to the world that we may be down, but not out,” he said.
Source: Greatandhra
Labels: chiru
Chiranjeevi's Flop Show
Like superstar Chiranjeevi’s movies, it was a houseful during his party’s launch rally last year. Millions of people had thronged to witness the mega event. Tirupati had become Chirupati on that day. Exactly a year later, the situation is totally different.
His party, Prajarajyam, is a flop show and Chiranjeevi seems like a defeated general after a long battle. With no friends and only a few fans in politics, he is a worried man. Most leaders have already left him and the rest are waiting for a chance to leave.
“What has been happening is a kind of cleansing process. We are very happy. Those who stay with us now are the real well wishers of Prajarajyam,” an optimistic Chiranjeevi said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy who had engineered a rift in the PRP even before the polls is now smiling. According to insiders, Reddy wants Chiranjeevi to merge with the Congress. But, Chiranjeevi's pride and ego are coming in the way.
“As far as Chiranjeevi is concerned neither we are trying nor has he sent us any feelers,” APCC president D Srinivas said.
When Chiranjeevi first entered politics, many saw him as the next NTR but the actor-politician could not become the next superstar of Andhra politics.
For his fans, Chiranjeevi, the politician, has been a disappointment. They blame the highhandedness of his family members and coterie around the actor for his failure.
“Just because NTR made it big in politics does not mean everyone else can also do it,” a fan said. While another one added, “Lack of political knowledge and incompetence are the reasons for his failure. It is not all about the fame game.”
So as Chiranjeevi's party completes one year, there will be little to celebrate but more introspection to be done. His fans can only hope that Chiranjeevi will at least now realise that reel life and real life are exactly the opposite, and success on the big screen is no guarantee of stardom in politics.
Source: Greatandhra
2009-06-03
Chiranjeevi dons role of legislator
Telugu superstar-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.
2009-05-16
Chiranjeevi's glamour fails to impress voters
The glamour quotient of Telugu superstar K. Chiranjeevi failed to garner votes as his Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) appeared to be heading
for a crushing defeat in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections.
Despite a high-pitch campaign and tall claims, the PRP launched by the actor in August last year came a cropper as the votes were counted Saturday.
Initial trends from all 294 assembly constituencies show the party is leading in only 20 assembly constituencies. The party candidates are leading in two out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The only consolation for Chiranjeevi is that despite a poor performance, his party may hold the key to power as both the ruling Congress party and the four-party grand alliance led by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) appear to stop short of majority.
There was gloom in PRP camp, as the actor had been hopeful of his party reaching the magic figure of 148.
Chiranjeevi himself was trailing in Palacole assembly constituency in his native West Godavari district, though he was ahead in Tirupati, the other assembly segment he is contesting.
The party failed to make any impact even in East and West Godavari districts and some other parts of coastal Andhra, where it was expected to do well. The presence of PRP only seemed to have affected the prospects of TDP in some constituencies and of Congress in some others.
The trends are a big blow to the 53-year-old actor, who had launched the party with a mammoth public meeting in Tirupati amid high expectations from his fans.
After a three-decade-long film career, his plunge into politics was expected to dramatically alter the political equations in the state. Pundits had compared the event to the political entry of the legendary actor N.T. Rama Rao, who created history by coming to power within nine months after launching TDP in 1982.
Though as a film star the popularity of Chiranjeevi was comparable to that of NTR, he failed to match NTR in politics.
Chiranjeevi, who launched the party on the slogan of social justice, had hoped to become the first Andhra Pradesh chief minister from his Kapu community. Despite having a sizeable majority, the community is yet to have its leader as chief minister in a state where most of the chief ministers were either from Reddys or Kammas, the two dominant castes.
The migration of several leaders from TDP to Chiranjeevi's camp also failed to help the party. PRP's prospects were also hit by series of resignations by its leaders before the elections to protest the manner in which tickets were distributed.
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