The Hindu : Front Page : Chiru meeting to be a ‘filmi’ affair

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Monday, Aug 25, 2008
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Chiru meeting to be a ‘filmi’ affair

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: A chopper will shower flower petals, while another will record the event at Tirupati in true filmi style, beaming it across 70 huge LCD screens.

With 48 hours to go for actor Chiranjeevi’s public meeting, his managers are pulling out all the stops to make the Avilala Cheruvu meet, a success.

A dozen special trains and thousands of private vehicles, including APSRTC and private buses, will ferry people to the temple town from across the State.

Cultural programmes

The film star’s brothers, K. Nagendra Babu and Pawan Kalyan, key aides such as Mitra and P. Vinay, senior politicians Ch. Harirama Jogaiah, K. Vidyadhara Rao and others have been shuttling between Hyderabad and Tirupati to oversee the arrangements.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan, who is handling the security for his brother, is in charge of the cultural programmes planned as part of the event. Sources said Chiranjeevi would fly to Tirupati on Monday evening and have an early morning darshan of Lord Venkateswara the next day.

An estimated 3,000 police personnel and 3,000 volunteers, with badges issued by the Chiru Rashtra Yuvatha (youth wing), will be on duty.

Four sectors

The meeting area is divided into four sectors--each having 10 blocks. The blocks have been created for the actor’s family and friends, physically challenged persons, senior citizens, women and media. People have been asked to be present well in advance to avoid rush.

Interestingly, even as the D-day is approaching, party managers maintain secrecy over finer details. The party office, out of which Chiranjeevi operated for the past 12 days, was devoid of activity on Sunday.

The last time he was seen at the office was on August 21. It was learnt that even the Chittoor district police were kept in the dark about the actor’s itinerary.

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