The Praja Rajyam president, Chiranjeevi, has adopted the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu’s tactic of firing salvos at political rivals using selected leaders. And the first target of this attack by Chiranjeevi’s party was none other than the TD supremo himself. The former TD leader, Ms Shobha Nagi Reddy, who joined the Praja Rajyam on Monday lashed out at Mr Naidu for using film actor Roja to attack the megastar-turned-politician.

It may be recalled here that Roja, the TD Mahila Wing leader and former heroine of Chiranjeevi, criticised him saying that he had entered politics solely to gain power and was motivated by self-interest. She had said that Chiranjeevi had never helped anyone in the film industry while he was the superstar.

Retorting sharply to Roja’s comments on Chiranjeevi, Ms Shobha Nagi Reddy said that the TD chief was conducting a competition among his party functionaries on who would criticise rivals the best. "He is using Assembly tickets as bait and this is nothing but political bankruptcy," she added. This was the first time that a leader other than the party spokesperson had held a press conference at the PR headquarters. On the other hand, Chiranjeevi refused to react to the critical comments made by the Congress and the TD on his Siricilla tour by saying that he would not respond to personal attacks.

"As I was moved by the hardships of the weavers in Siricilla during my recent visit, I questioned the lackadaisical attitude of the government and local MLA towards the plight of the weavers," he said. He has also set up a committee under the chairmanship of Mr K.S.R. Murthy to study the problems of the weavers. The megastar said he had not yet decided when to launch his state-wide tour. "I was thinking of beginning my yatra in the first week of October," he said. "But, some of our party leaders are suggesting that I take it up after the Dasara festival."