Talli Telangana president and former actress Vijayashanti said on Tuesday that actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi was not a hero for her. "He was only a cinema hero for me," she said at a meet-the-press programme at the Press Club here. "He is definitely not a political hero for me."

Vijayashanti explained that she had been in politics for the past 11 years and had also espoused the Telangana cause for that long. "I was the first and only woman politician to launch a political party in the State," she said.

She demanded the BJP to include the separate Telangana issue in the election manifesto of the NDA to gain the confidence of the people of the region. "Though the BJP went back on its promise to form the separate state when it was in power, we still can trust only the NDA as the UPA was clearly against the Telangana demand," Vijayashanti added. When asked about the proposed electoral alliance between the TRS and the CPI (M) in the State, she stated that the Marxists should first have supported the Telangana State.

"It is not good that they are still supporting united Andhra," she said. "The TRS should have allied with them only after they expressed support to the Telangana demand." Vijayashanti decried the CPI’s suggestion for a power sharing proposal between the Telugu Desam and the Praja Rajyam and said it was aimed at denying a chance to a Telangana leader to become Chief Minister.

She urged all the Telangana forces to jointly contest the next elections in order to avoid a split in Telangana votes. The actress sharply refuted allegations that she was a Congress agent and said they were being spread to malign her.