BY J.R.PRASAD
Hyderabad, April 4: Long-time associates of Chiranjeevi left the party on Saturday after their claims for tickets were overlooked by the Praja Rajyam.
The party also lost the services of Mr C. Anjaneya Reddy, former IPS officer. Mr Reddy, a Praja Rajyam vice-president, was a key member of Chiranjeevi’s core committee and security adviser to the PR chief.
President of the Chiranjeevi Yuvatha, Mr Chalamalasetty Venkateswara Rao, and other leaders, Mr B. Ganapathi and Y. Vittal Prasad, met the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and joined the Congress.
They said they had spent lakhs of rupees over 30 years to hype Chiranjeevi’s films. “We are not against him. But he failed to run the party in an effective manner,” Mr Venkateswara Rao said. “Nobody will believe that he can change politics by following the age-old questionable practices.”
“We have been with the mega star since the party’s inception. We are the people who made his blood bank and eye bank a success,” another leader said. “After taking our support all these years, he has ignored us.”
More than 12 fan associations are now up in arms against the film star and his brothers for “exploiting” them. Nearly 20 lakh youth have membership in the fans associations, which have vowed their support to the Congress.
“We are going to campaign against Chiranjeevi. We request our fellow fans to vote for the Congress,” said Mr Rao. Unmindful of the endless statewide protests, the party kept favouring newcomers and those close to the Chiranjeevi family.
The party has allotted 104 seats to Backward Classes candidates, 50 to Scheduled Castes, 23 to Scheduled Tribes and 14 to the minorities. For instance, the former journalist, Mr K. Kannababu, Chiranjeevi’s personal secretary, was fielded from Kakinada Rural. Another close aide of the actor-turned-politician, Mr Thota Chandrasekhar, was nominated for the Guntur Lok Sabha seat.
Mr Jagadam Sudhakar, relative of Mr Allu Aravind, is the PR candidate from Kodad. Another relative, Ms Muthamsetty Vijaya Nirmala, was allotted Nuziveedu. A key member in party’s core committee, Mr P. Vinay Kumar, son of Mr P. Siva Shankar, was fielded for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat. Pavan Kalyan’s close aide, Mr D. Sravan Kumar, got the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat.
Long-time associates Dr P. Mitra and Mr Parakala Prabhakar, who helped Chiranjeevi lay the groundwork for the party, were completely ignored. Mr Prabhakar had expected the Narsapuram Lok Sabha seat and Dr Mitra, the Nellore Urban Assembly seat. Apart from senior leader, Mr K.S.R. Murthy, Mahila Rajyam president, Ms Sobha Rani, spokesperson, Ms Vasireddy Padma, and another spokesperson Mr G. Sridhar were denied tickets. “There is no social justice in the party,” said Ms Sobha Rani.
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