Chiranjeevi stuck in between politics and films

The 'boss' of Telugu cinema Chiranjeevi has called it quits as an actor after 30-year acting career. Chiru, as he is fondly called made his acting debut in 1977 with Punadhirallu. His announcement assumes significance as there are indications that he may be inducted either into the Andhra Pradesh state Cabinet or even the Union Cabinet in the next round of reshuffle.

Chiranjeevi, a self-made star in Telugu cinema, had taken a sabbatical of sorts in August 2008 to float his Praja Rajyam Party. While announcing the launch of his party, he indicated that he would continue to act in films "my first love" even after turning a politician but would play only message- oriented roles in tune with his new stature.

Chiranjeevi's party was trounced in the 2009 general elections. With a 17 per cent vote share and 18 MLAs, the PRP, however, became the third largest group in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. In February 2011, Chiranjeevi decided to merge his party with the ruling Congress and, since then, had been busy completing the formalities.

His youngest brother and actor Pavan Kalyan too publicly requested Chiranjeevi to "do one more film" at the earliest.

Chiranjeevi, during a talk show hosted by actress and MP Jayaprada on a Telugu TV channel, had earlier not ruled out the possibility of his return to silver screen "sooner or later".

It was on August 26, 2008 that Chiranjeevi launched the PRP in temple town of Tirupati with a lot of fanfare. It did not celebrate its first anniversary last year because of the party's poor performance in the 2009 general elections.

In fact, the PRP has nothing much to celebrate about in the two years of its existence. The party that entered the political scene in the state as an alternative to both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party is now increasingly being seen as an "appendix" to the ruling party.

Chiranjeevi has befriended the Congress over the last few months, in the aftermath of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death, and is ready to play a saviour just in case the ruling party suffers a split in the fast-changing political scenario in AP.

Political observers say Congress sees Chiranjeevi as the only charismatic leader against TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu in the event of rebellious Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy walking out of the ruling party, and is hence keeping him in good humour.

Chiranjeevi, however, is quick to debunk any such theories. "PRP will continue to be an independent party and will not merge with the Congress," he has repeatedly been asserting over the last few days. He, however, says the PRP may have only an "electoral understanding" with the Congress.

Being a widely-acclaimed actor, Chiranjeevi is still a crowd-puller. This has been proved yet again when he undertook a "Praja Chaitanya Yatra" in five districts very recently, during which he was highly critical of the "anti-people policies" of the state government.

But it is being said that he could not build his party organisation effectively in the last two years. There is no proper party structure in place right from the state-level.

Except the Political Affairs Committee, the PRP has no other party wings in place. Neither could the party complete its membership enrolment exercise because of which the organisational elections have been put off.

His youngest brother and film star 'Pavan' Kalyan headed the youth wing of PRP soon after its formation. This was disbanded after the PRP's rout in the 2009 elections and Kalyan quietly retreated to the tinsel town. Chiranjeevi's younger brother Nagababu too has distanced himself from the party and is busy producing a movie with his nephew Tej.

Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law and Man Friday Allu Aravind, one of the erstwhile general secretaries of PRP, has also become politically inactive now, though he promised to make a "strong comeback" after August.

The women's wing of PRP too has been abandoned though Chiranjeevi boasts of having the largest support base among women. The two popular women faces in the party – Vasireddy Padma and Sobha Rani -- are at loggerheads, leaving Chiranjeevi with more headache.

The party has only a handful of leaders worth the name left in its ranks after the exit of several bigwigs, who initially migrated to it in the hope for greener pastures.

The PRP's stand in favour of a unified Andhra Pradesh has reduced it to nothing in the Telangana region where the demand for a separate state is running high. However, after a gap of over eight months, PRP has recently started efforts for rebuilding itself in the region.

Now, the PRP will deliberate upon its political strategy at the two-day plenary in Visakhapatnam where it will also adopt resolutions on 12 different subjects, according to its Political Affairs Committee member D T Naik.

"Apart from the main political resolution, we shall also adopt resolutions on agriculture scenario, finance, welfare, price rise, law and order, youth and women welfare, education and healthcare," Naik told PTI.

PRP will stick to its stand on a unified Andhra Pradesh and this will be reflected in its political resolution, party sources say. A documentary on Chiranjeevi's film career will be the highlight of the plenary, they add.