Watch Live

Vijayawada: The fans of Prince Mahesh Babu and Yuva Samrat Akkineni Nagarjuna are jubilant for the reason that their heroes have joined the “winning horse”, the Congress.

Unlike the Konidela brothers, who are on an experiment with Praja Rajyam Party and the Nandamuri heroes, who are trying to bring back the past glory of the Telugu Desam, the heroes, Mahesh Babu and Nagarjuna are riding on the winning horse, according to the fans.

Though the Congress is branded as a Reddy party (Telugu Desam as Kamma party and PRP as Kapu Party), the Kamma leaders from the Krishna and Guntur districts are now moving close to the Congress. The support being extended to the Congress by the families like Akkineni and Ghattamaneni from the film world adds additional flavour to the families of Parvataneni, Devineni, Kavuri, Rayapati, Maganti and other Kamma names is giving acceptability to the Congress for other Kammas to follow suit.

The entry of Daggubati family into the Congress has turned out to be an additional advantage for the Congress in Krishna and Guntur districts. In fact, Purandhareswari’s success in the Congress as Union Minister is seen as an opportunity given to the community by the Congress.

These two factors – entry of Prince Mahesh Babu and Yuva Samrat Nagarjuna on one side and Daggubati family on the other – are luring Junior NTR into the Congress. Some of the Junior NTR fans in Vijayawada have already initiated discussion on their hero turning to the Congress. It is now only matter of time for other leading Kamma families to come close to the Congress.

How many of them will come to Congress before the elections is to be seen as the days roll out.

"The pedda manishi who never stepped into his own village and never helped even a single person over there, is now saying stories that he would serve 8 crore Andhra Pradesh population. He acted as hero in films in past 30 years and earned crores of rupees. But didn't bother helping a single person in his own village", said YSR today in Guntur district today as a part of Rajeev Pallebaata.

"Chiranjeevi should explain what change he is going to bring in teh state", added YSR.

"Will he stop old age people's pensions, will he put an end to free electricity, will he put full stop to kilo Rs 2 rice, will he lift away house and welfare schemes those are meant for poor now? What change Chiranjeevi is going to bring?" asked YSR.

YSR also asked Chandrababu what welfare he did in his rule for poor people. He said that TDP leaders have eaten away the rice that was meant for poor people in Babu's rule.

In her forthcoming film, Kites, Kangna Ranaut plays a salsa dancer.

“I’m excited. You’ll see me in a very different role,” says the lovely lass. Not only that, Kangna says that these days, since she’s getting loving vibes from all those near and dear to her (yes, it includes Adhyayan Suman), she’s able to focus on her work.

Ask her how’s life on the personal front, and she smiles and says, “I’m happy. I can just concentrate on my work. There are no distractions. Only good people around me. My family is happy, my friends are happy, Adhyayan is happy and that keeps me focussed.” Way to go, gal!

Prajarajyam party president Chiranjeevi said the party was withdrawing the case booked against four youth who threw eggs on him when he was touring Telangana.

Addressing the media on Sunday, he said he was not in favour of the case being pursued against the students .

The incident took place in Narsampet on November 4. Following a complaint lodged by the party, police took four students into custody who were said to be belonging to TRS students wing.

Chiranjeevi said he would begin his tour of Rayalaseema from November 14. He would be visiting two districts, Kurnool and Anantapur.

Replying to a question on Telangana, he said PRP was more clear than many parties on the issue of statehood to Telangana. "It is the Centre that has to take a decision on the Telangana issue. If the people give PRP power we will pressurise the Union government to take a decision on the issue," he said.

He said the Prajarajyam party would never give false assurances on the Telangana issue. "When the Centre was ready to take a decision on Telangana some individuals stalled it. We don't want to stall it like that, what more clarity do our detractors want on the issue," Chiru asked.

Chiranjeevi, one of the well wishers of Superstar Rajinikanth has said that the demi-god of Tamil Nadu must come into active politics and it is the right time for that.

In his recent interview to CNN-IBN Channel, the Telugu superstar said that Rajini had once told him that he would enter politics at his 60th age.

According to the actor, Rajini has already discussed a lot with him on his political entry several occasions and that he would like to enter in to politics at the right time.

"I think Rajinikanth should have joined politics. I think he should have come into politics. He has got so much charisma, people expect from him," said Chiranjeevi.

Asked whether he has discussed the issue with Rajinikanth, he said: "Yes, oh yes! Several times-we have discussed it. We discussed it many times. He said that when he enters 60 years it would be the right time."

Chiranjeevi wants the Tamil actor to decide about joining politics now. "Yes. You are right-something like that," he said when asked if Rajinikanth should make a decision now.

The ensuing elections in Andhra Pradesh is likely to witness a keen tussle among top stars of the Telugu film industry, with the ruling Congress party planning to rope in popular actor Akkineni Nagarjuna to counter superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi as well as former chief minister N T Rama Rao’s sons and grandsons.
With Chiranjeevi launching his Praja Rajyam party and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) banking on its founder NTR’s family, the ruling party too has decided to utilise some film glamour.
After roping in Nagarjuna to act in some television advertisements to publicise its welfare schemes, the Congress is planning to convince him to campaign for the party in the elections, due to be held in March-April next year.
The Congress began its efforts to rope in Nagarjuna soon after a massive public meeting organised by the TDP in Guntur.
NTR’s son and popular actor N Balakarishna took a plunge into politics at the meeting, which was also attended by two actor grandsons of NTR.
The ruling party’s move also came amid the ongoing state-wide ‘yatra’ of Chiranjeevi, who is attracting huge crowds.
Nagarjuna, son of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao, already featured in some advertisements highlighting welfare schemes of the Congress government. These advertisements hit television screens two days ago.
The 49-year-old actor, who has a mass following, had featured in a few advertisements on behalf of TDP before the 2004 elections.
Though Congress leaders often claimed that Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy alone was capable of taking on actors like Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna, the party now seems to have realised that it needs star charisma to retain power.
Congress has already made efforts to woo young and popular actor Mahesh Babu to campaign for the party. While Mahesh Babu remained non-committal, his father and superstar of yesteryears Krishna has already announced that he would support the ruling party.
Krishna, a former Congress MP, even formed an association of fans called Krishna-Mahesh Sena.
The ruling party recently inducted actors like Rajasekhar, his wife Jeevitha, Jayasudha and Srihari to add glamour in its ranks. Though TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has not yet succeeded in roping in NTR’s grandson and one of the top actors Junior NTR, his party is confident after the success of the Guntur meeting that the star appeal of Balakrishna, his brother and TDP MP Harkrishna, NTR’s grandsons Tarakaranta and Kalyan Ram is enough to bring the party back to power.
While both Congress and TDP are adding several stars to their ranks, Chiranjeevi is fighting a lone battle by banking heavily on his fan following.