Hyderabad, May 31: Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi has ended the suspense about his entry into politics, saying he would float his party on August 22 with a promise of land and jobs for the poor.
The announcement, made yesterday, has caused ripples in the Congress, Telugu Desam Party and the Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
A prominent Congress MP, Harirama Jogaiah, has announced his interest in the actor’s party while a former Desam minister, Vidhyadhar Rao, has been suspended for making pro-Chiranjeevi statements.
The reason for the churning and excitement, analysts said, is that Chiranjeevi is the first Telugu film star to be floating his own party after N.T. Rama Rao launched the Desam a quarter century ago.
The 53-year-old actor has chosen a strong vote bank to woo: his party will be championing the landless farm labourers or Kapus, who have for decades been demanding Backward Caste status.
Political observers say the new party might take away chunks of Kapu votes from the Congress and the Desam in most of the coastal districts and Telengana. It could influence the results in more than 100 Assembly constituencies, now mostly with the Congress and earlier with the Desam. Even the TRS could be hit.
Allu Aravind, Chiranjeevi’s political mentor and business associate, said the launch date was fixed keeping in mind the general election, which the actor expects would take place by November.
The outfit, expected to follow a left-of-centre ideology, could be called the Labour Party. Chiranjeevi is likely to unveil the party flag, manifesto and its main bodies at Icchapuram in Srikakulam district, and follow it up with a weeklong campaign along the coasts.
The manifesto will promise two acres of land to all landless poor and a job to each rural family. Its flag is expected to be blue, red and green, representing the Dalits, labourers and the minorities.
Chiranjeevi, who has acted in 300-odd Telugu films besides a few Hindi, Tamil and Kannada movies, had been setting the stage for a political career for a long time.
Many of his recent blockbusters — such as Indra and Thakur — have adopted political themes, attacking corruption and violence.
