Refusing to be drawn into a public debate on the issue of development in the state, Prajarajyam supremo Chiranjeevi said he could not afford to spare time for public debates at this juncture.

Talking to the media at the party office on Monday, he said he had more pressing work of the party than getting locked up in public debates on one issue or the other. The megastar was reacting to a challenge thrown by information minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy to him for an open public debate on the welfare measures initiated by chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. On Monday, he presented several leaders from Krishna, Prakasam and Nalgonda districts to the media as having joined hands with him.

Referring to the debate challenge, he said he was busy with arrangements to be made for his Meet-the-People tour, discussions on various issues with people etc. "These types of debates are a waste of time. I am not free now to indulge in the luxury of engaging in discussions in public," he said.