Chiranjeevi Exposed: Explosive Stuff

Chiranjeevi is arguably one of the most popular actors, if not the best, in Andhra Pradesh. But that’s that and nothing more to it. I have been in the industry for some time now. I have known the inside and outside of Chiranjeevi and his brother Pawan Kalyan. I know how many artistes in the industry were humiliated by Chiranjeevi. My husband Rajasekhar has stronger views on him. I wanted my husband to write a post on this off-screen political drama being enacted by a hypocritical on-screen hero. Here is what my husband has to say about Chiranjeevi:

Rajasekhar writes

“As I know, Chiranjeevi always hid behind a veil of hypocrisy. The actor is spinning another tale, this time political. I have no problem if Chiranjeevi or his brother enter the political arena. The country has seen the likes of NTR and MGR emerge as chief ministers after their successful career in movies. But the comparison ends there. MGR and NTR were a different breed. They had a special connect with the people. They were not shallow and hypocritical. They practiced what they preached.

Humble bumble

I laughed at the inaugural speech of the megastar in Tirupati when he claimed that he had humble beginnings and ate ganji during his youth. These are his exact words: “I survived in Madras with less than Rs 100 per month. People need a person from such background to lead them. My roles in cinema always represented weaker sections.” That was an awesome performance in real life too!!!

He doesn’t stop there. He wallows in self-pity. Here is another example :”I am from a very humble background. We had just five acres of land. My father was a police constable.” So what if his father was a police constable? So what if he had just five acres of land? How many artistes are struggling to make both ends meet? Did he ever make an attempt to wipe out the tears from their faces? Does he know the background of artistes in the film industry? What help did he offer to the legendary actor Kanta Rao’s family or for that matter any artiste who died in penury?

All of us had humble beginnings. I used to help my mother in milching milk, sell eggs and make pidakalu (cow dung cakes) to ease her burden. I get tears when I recall those days. But I have done no favour to my mother by helping her. What has his humble beginnings got to do with social justice and all that jazz? Has he counted the number of cars he has? Where did this money come from? Does he even show his gratitude to the masses who made him what he is now? They idolise and worship him, but what do they get in return? Not even a hand wave from his Benz/BMW tinted glasses.

Party of Pawan Kalyan, for Nagababu, by Allu Aravind

I had a hearty laugh when he stated that “My party is of the people, for the people and by the people.” Well, Chiranjeevi, your party is of Pawan Kalyan, for Nagababu and by Allu Aravind. His another pearl, “I take an oath in the name of Lord Venkateshwara that I will be with you. You don’t need a leader. You need a servant. It is my motive. I want to restore the honour of politics.” Such blatant lies.
Has he forgotten how he treats his servants? Has he forgotten how he roughed up his car driver when he ate his left-overs? Or for that matter, how he treats his own family members, especially his daughters? What help did he render when his servant asked for mere Rs 50,000 for his daughter’s wedding? Leave alone giving the money, Chiranjeevi sacked the servant. So much for Samajika Nyayam!

Wolf In The Sheep Skin

Chiranjeevi ‘oka meka vanne puli’ (a wolf in sheep’s skin). My blood boils when I see through his two faces. His inside and outside are deceptive. His another gem, “I don’t know politics. I can’t understand it. But I know the suffering of people.” Where was he when the farmers in the state were committing suicides? Where was he when weavers were ending their lives in Siricilla? He visited Siricilla after earning crores of rupees in the film industry and shed a few crocodile tears. Was he not aware of the weavers’ sufferings before he entered politics?

Bloody Lies

Another boastful statement, “I founded hundreds of blood and eye banks.” Whose blood is it anyway? Has he given it for free? Has he or his brother donated blood? The blood bank is the contribution of lakhs of his fans who revered and adored the man. But what gratitude does he have for them? Several people died in stampedes while buying his cinema tickets. What help has he offered to the kin of all those people who died in stampedes? Mr Chiranjeevi, your fans not only gave their blood but earned bread for you and your entire family. But in return what they get is your irreverence and utter contempt.

Social justice sham

Chiranjeevi’s social justice mantra is just to corner votes and not to render justice to the downtrodden. How can there be social justice as long as Praja Rajyam Party remains the private property of one family? Chiranjeevi has mastered the art of turning politics into business.
To do real social justice is to give the deprived access to quality education, health care, employment opportunities and social security. In his career spanning over 30 years, has he done anything in this direction? Leave social justice, what justice has he done to his native Mogalturu. He earned crores of rupees but hasn’t spent a penny for the development of his village. He sold a library in Mogalturu for Rs 3 lakh when some people approached him. ‘Samaji ka nyayam, em samaji ka nyayam? Fine, but does he have Manavatva nyayam?

No Friends

I ask Chiranjeevi how many of film artistes are supporting him? Can he name a few actors who are supporting him apart from his brothers Pawan Kalyan, Nagababu and brother-in-law Allu Aravind. This is because he has no credibility in the industry. Has he given chance to any new director? He behaves like a ‘sarva adhikari’ and crushed the careers of so many people.

Cannot run family

While he fights against villainous parents of bride, he and his family played the role of villain in his daughter Srija’s marriage. Chiranjeevi talks about social justice when he cannot do justice to his own family members. He refused to accept Bharadwaj as his son-in-law because of the caste crossover. How can we entrust the responsibility of Andhra Pradesh to this man who cannot even handle his own family members.

48 laws to power

Chiranjeevi follows the book ’48 laws to power’ written by Robert Greene as a Bible. The book is full of “vennu potu” ideas. I saw the same book in the house of Chandrababu Naidu. I quote from the book: “Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.” That sums up his personality.

The shame Guevara

His brother Pawan Kalyan thinks he is the reincarnation of Che Guevara. Beating up directors and fighting on streets, pulling out revolver’s doesn’t make one a Che Guevara. Does he even know who Che Guevara is and what he stood for? It is a shame that Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan are misusing photographs of great personalities like Mother Teresa, Dr B R Ambedkar and the likes for their selfish political ends. Look at the irony, Chiranjeevi talks of Mahatma Gandhi who was a peace apostle while Che Guevara took the violent path to achieve his means.

Voters Appeal

I appeal to the voters to exercise their valuable franchise on the basis of development. I request the voters not to get carried away by filmi glamour and vote for a party that provides good governance. If you like your hero, please watch his movies three times or even 10 times, but don’t give away your vote cheaply. Is it worth to pledge the interests of our state in the hands of one family? Think of it.

(courtsey: www.votecong.com)

Praja Rajyam, party of political discards

All Chiranjeevi’s Men

Many retired leaders who had gone out of circulation are trying to breathe new life into their political careers. These discarded politicians have found a platform in Praja Rajyam Party. After years of political hibernation, some of them are trying to reinvent themselves. Here is the profile of the political non-entities.

P Upendra

Parvathaneni Upendra had to bow out of the TDP following a conspiracy allegedly hatched by Chandrababu Naidu. While in the TDP, Upendra had served as a minister for parliamentary affairs, information and broadcasting in 1989-90. Upendra was the second-in-command in the TDP under NTR and served as a minister of state in the VP Singh-led National Front government at the Centre. Upon his exit from the TDP, Upendra spent a couple of years as an unattached member in the Rajya Sabha. He joined the Congress and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vijayawada in 1996.

Upendra went into political oblivion since losing the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. After the 1999 debacle, he tried to enter the Rajya Sabha several times but was unsuccessful. He succeeded in getting a ticket for his son-in-law, Lagadapati Rajagopal to contest as Parliament member from Vijayawada. Upendra and Rajgopal had family disputes and now they are back in good terms. He failed to make a mark on his own outside the TDP. Now, Upendra is the political advisor to the Praja Rajyam Party.

P Shiv Shankar

While Upendra quit the TDP in 1992, Shiv Shankar quit the Congress in 2004 and since then he has been keeping away from active politics. Shiv Shankar is head of the manifesto committee and legal cell of the PRP.
A legal expert, Shiv Shankar was a close aide of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and served as a minister in her Cabinet.

He was a member of the Cabinet under Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao.
Shiv Shankar had gone into hibernation after he was denied a party ticket in 2004. Shiva Shankar accompanied Natwar Singh in the four-member delegation that went to Iraq in the great oil-for-food scam. In the oil-for-food scam, Natwar used his position to provide business prospectus to his son Jagat Singh to the tune of eight million barrels of oil.

There were reports that Shiv Shankar had met TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat before joining the Praja Rajyam Party. But nothing came of it and Shiva Sankar disappeared from the scene. After four years in political hibernation, he resurfaces thanks to Praja Rajyam Party.

Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah

The ‘silent parliamentarian’ who spoke more in Hyderabad than in Delhi is a perennial dissident. As his past track proves Jogaiah is a rank opportunistic politician who is in the habit of changing political parties. He joined the TDP, later joined the Congress, took a somersault into the BJP and then returned to Congress to become an MP.

Hailing from Kapu caste, Jogaiah is desperate to get into the good books of Chiranjeevi. However, Chiranjeevi is said to upset with Jogaiah for dashing off a letter opposing the appointment of Pawan Kalyan as Yuva Rajyam president. Jogaiah’s contention was that it would send a wrong signal to the people that the PRP is being run by family members.

In the letter, Jogaiah wondered if the huge crowds were merely coming to see their favourite matinee idols or would also vote for them. Jogaiah is being sidelined by the party leaders after his letter embarrassed PRP’s the top brass. This became evident when Jogaiah was selected only as one of the 30 members in PRP’s manifesto committee set up by Chiranjeevi. Jogaiah has differences with Parakala Prabhakar since their BJP days.

K Vidhyadher Rao

Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao was a former minister and MLA from 1983 to 2004. TDP boss Chandrababu expelled Rao for going against the party discipline. Rao first entered the Assembly in 1983 as an independent and got elected on TDP ticket in 1985. Rao had strong differences with Naidu and was accused of promoting groupism in the party. Rao had a running fued with Kothapalli Subbarayudu who recently joined the PRP. Both had an uneasy relationship while they were in the TDP. It will now be interesting to see how Subbarayudu fits in the PRP given his acrimony with another senior Rao of the same district. How the two get along in PRP remains to be seen.

Tammineni Sitaram

He served the TDP in various capacities since the past 25 years. The former TDP minister had differences with the party’s strongman in north coastal Andhra and MP Yerran Naidu. Sitaram accused Yerran Naidu of being a dictator. He is likely to contest against his arch-rival Yerran Naidu from Srikakulam.

Bhooma Nagi Reddy

He was elected to Assembly in 1992 following the death of his brother Bhuma Sekhar Reddy. From 1996 to 2004, he represented the Nandyal constituency. There are several criminal cases against the Rayalseema leader. A case was registered against Bhuma Nagi Reddy including assaulting an inspector in Obulapuam. Nagi Reddy and his wife Shobha Nagi Reddy are notorious factionists in Rayalaseema region. Chiranjeevi’s talk of rooting out factionism should be taken with a pinch of salt with both the factionists joining the PRP fold.

All of them sidelined

Senior leaders Shiv Shankar, Upendra, Vidyadhara Rao or Harirama Jogaiah were never regular to PRP office. They visited PRP office only when there were meetings with Chiranjeevi. One of the reasons for their lack of interest is that there is nothing much for them to do. There are no strategy meetings, no discussions with them on how to carry out further campaign. All that Chiranjeevi is doing now is meeting his fans and people coming in large numbers to the party office. So, there is nothing much for seniors to do.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/PRP_seniors_sore_at_mega_snub_/articleshow/3538669.cms

Rajasekhara Reddy, Y he's ahead

Café discussions, pre-poll surveys and conventional wisdom all put him ahead in the race to Mandate 2009. We discuss five reasons why Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is being seen as the strongest incumbent to have donned poll gear in AP since the days of one-party rule in the 1970s.

Two reputed polling organizations, CSDS for CNN-IBN and Nielsen-ORG for NTV, have forecast a Congress victory in the upcoming election. That must make Y S Rajasekhara Reddy one of the few AP chief ministers to be strongly tipped to return to power. We look at five reasons why YSR is presently the frontrunner in this race.

1) Incumbency is his advantage
YSR is going into this election on the strength of a staggering array of welfare and development projects, be it the audacious Jalayagnam, the very necessary Pavala Vaddi or the stubbornly populist free power. Throughout his term, in the face of right-wing alarm, YSR never wavered in his commitment to welfarism, going to the extent of using innovative methods to raise funds for Jalayagnam.

YSR used his incumbency well where Chandrababu Naidu did not. Sticking to a rural-agrarian vision, YSR trained his focus on winning the votes of people who vote whereas Chandrababu Naidu wooed voters who do not. Where Naidu was lulled by the hosannas of the World Bank, YSR gave wide berth to the World Economic Forum.
Does welfarism win votes? If it didn’t, why is Chandrababu Naidu joining the competition, perhaps too late and with too little?

2) The waning of naxalism in AP
Ever since the rise of the naxalites in rural AP, they have played a decisive role in unseating several incumbents – in 1989, 1994, and 2004. The naxalites have been traditionally hostile to all ruling parties irrespective of ideology, but the difference this time is that they seem to be in no position to – or perhaps reluctant – to scuttle the chances of the chief minister. The state has come a long way since the days when police-naxalite warfare was front page news. Not any more. Chandrababu Naidu suffered at the hustings in 2004 because he was menaced by the naxalites. YSR is ahead because he has no such menace to contend with.

3) The opposition is divided
This may be a surprising thing to say after the formation of the Mahakutami but the coalition partners in it really are at sixes and sevens on Telangana. One party, the TRS, is squarely separatist; another, the TDP, is half this and half that; a third, the CPM, is unapologetically against it; and the fourth, CPI, is inconsequential anyway.

Instead of going with coherence, the Mahakutami is approaching the Telangana voter with confusion in its own mind. Moreover, the TDP’s late dalliance with separatism is likely to win it no support in coastal Andhra and certainly not in Rayalaseema.

Chiranjeevi
While the Mahakutami bills itself as a united front against the Congress, it isn’t. There’s still the Praja Rajyam out on a limb out there. Chiranjeevi’s charisma may not be strong enough to generate an NTR-like wave in all of AP, but he still can split the anti-Congress vote enough to put paid to the best laid plans of the Mahakutami.

Moreover, Chiranjeevi is trying to stitch together a coalition of middle-castes, which, until now, have been traditional supporters of the TDP. Migration of such groups to a Chiranjeevi coalition can only be at the cost of the TDP. Chandrababu Naidu knows this. Therefore, his daily cussing against the Megastar.

4) YSR is the agenda-setter
Finally, it’s an electoral truism that the vote will go to that leader or party who sets the agenda. Barack Obama seized the agenda in the US election and he won it. YSR set the agenda in 2004 and he won. The UPA stole the agenda from the BJP in 2004, and they won.

But now in 2009, the TDP does not act but only reacts to what the Congress does. Until the free colour TV scheme, the TDP had only been playing catch-up politics, coming up with increments on the Congress’ poll promises and therefore being not very convincing. That’s not the elections are won.

Mahakutami is a marriage of convenience

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu is a master at forging opportunistic alliances. When the BJP was doing well, he latched on to them and retuned to power. He later dumped them and is now honeymooning with Telangana Rashtra Samithi. The ‘Mahakutami’ (Grand Alliance), which felt elated over the support promised by MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga, is now caught in a web with the latter sticking to his demand of 30 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats.

Leaders from Khammam unit of TDP recently demanded that the party should at no cost agree to give the Khammam Lok Sabha seat to the Left. CPI had originally claimed the seat but is understood to have agreed to leave Khammam to TDP and in return got Nalgonda LS and two other seats in the district. Apart from this, the TD and the TRS are fighting over who should contest from seats like Mancherial, Sircilla, Jedcharla and Parkal, where both the parties are equally strong. Lok Sabha seats like Adilabad and Malkajgiri also being equally claimed by

the TD and the TRS.

Moreover, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s unilateral announcement of his party candidates from some seats like Kukatpally, Serlingampally and Makhtal has made TD leaders angry. TD’s aspirants in these segments are making hue and cry over the decision of the TRS chief and are stepping up pressure on Naidu not to leave these seats to the TRS. Even the Left parties are also unable to arrive on a mutual agreement over seats-sharing issue between them. Both the CPI and the CPM are asking for Assembly seats like Araku, Wyra and Huzurabad simultaneously.

Meanwhile, the TD, the TRS and the CPM have not agreed on who should contest from Warangal East, Uppal and Musheerabad seats. There are some seats like Vinukonda, which are equally claimed by the TD and the CPI.

Sharing of constituencies is only the first of the vexatious issues for the Grand Alliance. An emerging challenge is that electoral arthimetic and political chemistry does not always jell. Both the TDP and TRS rank and file recall the bitter acrimony between Naidu and Chandrasekhara Rao in the run up to the 2004 elections when booklets were published calling each other names.

The buzz among Rao’s detractors is that naidu acquiesced to the idea of having a deputy CM if the four-party coalition has the requisite majority in the new legislative assembly. A third challenge is to wean and win significant support in Telangana.

Naidu is a new convert to the separate Telangana ideology. Previously he harped on ‘Samkhya Andhra Pradesh.”On his part, Chandraskehara Rao failed to do enough to achieve separate statehood to Telangana though he had got votes, MPs, MLAs. He could not hold his flock together with many flying and nesting in the Congress camp. These factors make it doubly difficult for Naidu and KCR to get the majority of seats in Telangana. To dislodge the Congress Party, the Grand Alliance is trying to cover up its inadequacies by banking on the glamour of Tollywood.
Mahakutami is a marriage of conveience.

Economist: Naidu then and Naid-U now

In his heyday as the ‘computer-savvy’ chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu was the darling of right-wing publications such as Economist. He puffed up whenever they published kind notices of him and in turn they rushed to shower on him awards and invitations to ‘leadership summits’.
But what would they think of him now as he peddles free colour TVs and cash payouts?
Economist, the most unapologetic of right-wing publications, once saw Naidu as the hope of the nation as he propped up the BJP at the Centre and promoted every pro-market legislation and policy during 1998-2004.
Here’s what the Economist said of Chandrababu Naidu in August 2000 (http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PVQNTN):
“In a country still weaning itself away from socialism, Mr Naidu embodies the idea that reform is not a conspiracy against the poor but the best way to help them. He has an appealing vision of business, technology, enlightened bureaucrats and the energies of common people together improving welfare, and has gone some way towards implementing it.”
And here’s what the magazine says in its March 12, 2009 issue (http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278390) when it met the same man, now a competitive populist:

“Forsaking his famed reformism, Mr Naidu is… matching the open-handed populism of his rival. The TDP has promised a massive and seemingly unaffordable cash transfer to families either side of the poverty-line, and a colour television to every family below it. Asked about this proposal, Mr Naidu concedes an embarrassed laugh.”

Covering the election in AP, the Economist concedes the current state government seems less unpopular than its predecessor was:

“With fat revenues from the computer-services industry in Hyderabad, the state capital, and sales of state-owned land, it has poured money into irrigation and other development.”

While acknowledging that second-guessing Indian voters is a mug’s game, the magazine says “it is thought that Congress may keep power in AP, despite losing some seats in he state legislature. It is also predicted to win over 20 of AP’s parliamentary seats.”