Chiranjeevi lands a punch on Chandrababu

South superstar Chiranjeevi's political career increasingly resembles a Telugu potboiler. He is busy slugging it out with TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, while Chief Minister Rajshekhara Reddy of the Congress sits back and watches the duel.

In a latest twist, Chiranjeevi has declared war on Chandrababu Naidu, accusing the Telugu Desam leader of plotting to finish him as a politician.

The actor-turned-politician has said Naidu and his Telugu Desam are trying to finish his one-year-old party, the Praja Rajyam, with the help of two vernacular dailies. The proximity of these dailies to Naidu is said to be an open secret. The banner headline in one of the dailies on Thursday screamed the imminent demise of the Praja Rajyam.

Chiranjeevi said: "They are pro-TDP. The existence of Praja Rajyam is a big hurdle to the TDP. So they want to eliminate us.''

After the elections, Naidu had blamed parties like the Praja Rajyam for spoiling the TDP's chances of coming back to power in Andhra Pradesh. More recently, he openly asked leaders who had quit the TDP before the elections to join Chiranjeevi, to return home. Some of them like Devender Goud have already come back to the TDP.

For a megastar with a larger-than-life image, being dismissed as the leader of a small party is not doing Chiranjeevi's ego any good. The fighter in Chiranjeevi is coming to the fore, much like it did in his films.

Questioned on Chiranjeevi's accusation that he is trying to "eliminate his Praja Rajyam", Chandrababu Naidu merely smiled and said: ``No comments.''

With the Opposition parties battling it out amongst themselves, Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy can, for the moment, afford to sit pretty and sport a smile.