The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Media build-up helps Chiru party

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Media build-up helps Chiru party

S. Nagesh Kumar

HYDERABAD: The element of surprise can be a potent weapon in politics as it does in a war but may lose its potency if overstretched.

After thriving on media hype and speculation for eight months now, the tinsel town star Chiranjeevi has decided to formally launch his party at Tirupati on August 26 as the surprise and suspense elements will no longer pay dividends.

The journey so far has been akin to a Telugu pot-boiler whose principal actors and storyline are known but the climax is kept a secret.

Till a few days ago, even mundane issues like the date and venue of the launch were kept under wraps bewildering those waiting to jump onto Chiru’s bandwagon. But, clearly the objective was to launch the party as close to the 2009 general elections as possible and the media build-up has only helped.

N. T. Rama Rao launched the TDP in March 1982, just three months after announcing his plans to senior journalists at the Ramakrishna Cine Studios. NTR then was a wee bit clumsy fiddling with the array of gold rings on his fingers, refusing to look the scribes straight in the eye or giving pointed replies to searching questions. Nine months later, the charismatic leader created history by riding on the crest of a wave to win 203 Assembly seats.

In contrast, Chiranjeevi has not said anything meaningful since January when his brother-in-law Allu Aravind compared the party to a train that was yet to arrive at a platform. Silence has been the key in the eight months that this train took to chug to the station.

The first time Chiranjeevi spoke about the party was at the dead of night when he opened his office in Jubilee Hills in the company of family members.

Two signals

Against this background, two signals have gone out quite loud and clear. The first is that the party will be tightly controlled by a coterie of family members, all of them new to politics.

Secondly, even before its launching, the party has been branded as a Kapu outfit since those gravitating towards it are mostly leaders belonging to the caste.

How he lends a pan-Andhra appeal like NTR transcending castes, regions will be interesting to watch. Considering the actor’s high glamour quotient, politics in the State will not be the same once he takes the plunge. If his star appeal and agenda works, it may be Chiranjeevi versus the rest.

Already, he has got other parties worried and forced them to alter their plans or keep them on hold.

TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu has cut short his 150-day-long ‘Mee Kosam’ yatra by 33 days in Anantapur where several leaders have defected. The party is keeping open all its political options, including its stand on Telangana, while Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, after announcing a plethora of populist schemes, plans to shift to election gear later this month.

Chiranjeevi will hopefully unveil his political agenda at a press conference on Sunday. Will he come up with some populist slogans like NTR did – Rs. 2 a kilo scheme, Janata dhoti and sari and a house for each poor family. More importantly, will he continue to dodge answers to contentious issues like Telangana, SC categorisation and Backward Class status for Kapus. It will be an hour of reckoning for Chiranjeevi’s makeover from a film star to a politician.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh