Brad Pitt to compete with Beckham for World Cup bid

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, June 4 (ANI): Actor Brad Pitt will compete with ace footballer David Beckham after the Hollywood superstar joined the committee trying to bring the 2018 World Cup to the United States.

Last month, Beckham officially presented England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and now Pitt has joined the USA Bid Committee.

“Soccer is a truly global sport and the opportunity to join the effort to have the US host the world’s greatest sporting event again is a great honour,” The Mirror quoted Pitt, as saying.

Comedian Drew Carey and actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger are also on the US committee.

Both countries are also bidding for the 2022 World Cup, as are Australia, Russia, Spain-Portugal and the Netherlands-Belgium.

Japan, South Korea and Qatar are also bidding for the 2022 tournament.

The US staged the tournament in 1994, while England hosted the European Championships in 1996.

FIFA’s executive committee will select the 2018 and 2022 hosts in a vote on December 2. (ANI)

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No merger with Congress in future: Chiranjeevi

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 29 (ANI): Telugu cine star and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) President Chiranjeevi on Saturday ruled out any merger with the Congress party in the future.

“The Congress has asked PRP to withdraw from Rajya Sabha polls,” said Chiranjeevi after his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpath.

“The PRP has allied with Congress only for Rajya Sabha polls,” he added

The meeting gained significance after Congress MP and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajshekhar Reddy’s son Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy defied the party orders and decided to go ahead with his planned ‘Odarpu Yatra,’ which caused a lot of violence in the Telangana region.

The Praja Rajyam Party, which has 18 MLAs in the 295-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly, is keen on contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The actor-turned politician was asked by the Congress High Command to come here for discussions to reach an understanding on the biennial Rajya Sabha polls, after he announced that his party would contest the election. (ANI)

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No merger with Congress in future: Chiranjeevi

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 29 (ANI): Telugu cine star and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) President Chiranjeevi on Saturday ruled out any merger with the Congress party in the future.

“The Congress has asked PRP to withdraw from Rajya Sabha polls,” said Chiranjeevi after his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpath.

“The PRP has allied with Congress only for Rajya Sabha polls,” he added

The meeting gained significance after Congress MP and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajshekhar Reddy’s son Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy defied the party orders and decided to go ahead with his planned ‘Odarpu Yatra,’ which caused a lot of violence in the Telangana region.

The Praja Rajyam Party, which has 18 MLAs in the 295-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly, is keen on contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The actor-turned politician was asked by the Congress High Command to come here for discussions to reach an understanding on the biennial Rajya Sabha polls, after he announced that his party would contest the election. (ANI)

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Arnie believes sex is most important part of marriage

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 11 (ANI): Comedian Tom Arnold has revealed that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger advised him before his wedding that sex is the most important thing in marriage.

The ‘Pride’ star met the actor turned politician just before marrying his fourth wife Ashley Groussman.

“He (Schwarzenegger) called me and he said he was concerned. He said, ‘It’s getting close to the marriage, how’s the sex?… Keep your eye on that,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

Tom added: “He doesn’t mean it in a sexy way, he means keep it (the marriage passionate), because you forget about the important things and sex is important in the marriage. He’s reminding me: Don’t forget about the sex!’”

The two became friends long before the ‘Terminator’ star joined politics. (ANI)

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BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha views Shekhar Suman as a ‘monkey’

May 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Patna, May 24 (ANI): Elections are over, but its bitterness may perhaps take time to end. It was visible when Bharatiya Janata Party leader and veteran film actor Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday described his rival TV actor-turned-politician Shekhar Suman of the Congress party as a ‘monkey’.

Attending a felicitation function to mark his poll victory, Sinha without directly naming anyone, was sarcastic about his political opponent in the recently held parliamentary elections.

“Those people who were behaving like a monkey on screen as well as off screen….. I have always said that the people’s welfare and progress are more important than name and fame. I was surprised to see that some people who were earlier seen in the election campaign of Narendra Modi, whatever might be the reason, it might be commercial reasons, who were seen in the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi, all of a sudden started talking about secularism and started saying that their family belongs to Congress and that they belong to Congress too,” said Sinha.

Shekhar contested election on Congress ticket against Shatrughan Sinha of the BJP. Both represent the Kayastha community whose members account for over 500,000 votes in the urban constituency of Patna Saheb.

Besides, an illustrious career in Bollywood, Shatrughan Sinha has been a Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government and been a member of the Rajya Sabha twice. (ANI)

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Fifth phase of polling to elect 86 Members of Parliament

May 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 13 (ANI): Elections for the fifth and final phase of parliamentary elections for the 86 constituencies in seven States and two Union Territories began on Wednesday morning.

The seven states comprising Punjab (nine constituencies), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (11), Himachal Pradesh (four constituencies), Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5) and two Union Territories including Chandigarh (1) and Pudducherry (1) would complete voting in all the constituencies in this fifth and final phase.

In this last leg, there are 10.78 crore eligible voters who will choose their political representatives out of 1,432 candidates including 93 women.

The Chennai South constituency has the highest number of contestants (43) and in the case of women candidates it is Faridkot in Punjab (5).

In Uttar Pradesh, Muslim vote is set to play a crucial role in the fifth and final round of polling.

Unlike the previous four phases, no area or polling station will come under the naxal-infested belt this time.

Staggered polling, which began on April 16, has seen elections completed to 457 Lok Sabha seats and also stray violence in some parts of the country.

The final phase would see election of 86 MPs and among the contenders are Congress’ P. Chidambaram and Md. Azharuddin, BJP’s Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, DMK’s T.R. Baalu, A. Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and M.K. Azhagiri, MDMK’s Vaiko, TC chief Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party’s actor-turned politician Jayaprada.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and Sajjad Gani Lone of People’s Conference are the other prominent names in this final phase of elections which would see election of 86 MPs.

Polling has already completed for 457 Lok Sabha seats since the exercise commenced began on April 16 amid stray violence that left over 20 dead.

Counting of votes and results will be out on May 16.

Any party or a coalition requires 272 seats in the Lok Sabha to stake claim to form a government at the Centre.

The Lok Sabha has 545 members. But elections are held to 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo- Indian community. (ANI)

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Budding designers select Rahul Gandhi, Hema Malini as style icons

May 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chandigarh, May 8 (ANI): In a poll conducted by the Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), student designers selected Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and actor-turned politician Hema Malini as ‘Political Style Icons of India’.

The poll was conducted at the 156 centres of INIFD across India in which 14,000 student designers voted.

Rahul Gandhi polled 50 per cent votes while his closest rival Navjot Singh Sidhu 20 per cent votes. Hema Malini polled 47 per cent votes while her closest rival Congress president Sonia Gandhi 31 per cent votes.

“I am pleased to announce that the political style icon male is Rahul Gandhi. He has won by a huge margin. He has got 50 per cent of votes polled. There is not even a close second winner. Sidhu pulled 20 per cent of votes and among the female category Hema Malini, she is the winner,” said Aditi Srivastava, VP, Corporate, INIFD.

Student designers were enthusiastic about knowing that Rahul Gandhi and Hema Malini have won in their respective categories.

“I am very happy that Rahul Gandhi won it because he deserves it. We are the fashion designers so we are under favour of Rahul Gandhi. And he is style icon, so we favour Rahul Gandhi.

So we all voted for him,” said Manya Sabharwal, a student.

The polling was held purely based on looks and style and not on any political ideology. By Sunil Kumar(ANI)

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Lalu Prasad alleges rigging in third phase of elections

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Patna, May 1 (ANI): Railways Minister Lalu Prasad has alleged that voting was rigged in Bihar in the third phase on Thursday.

Eleven out of Bihar’s 40 constituencies went to polls in the third phase of parliamentary elections.

“We have information of voting turnout between 25-55 per cent. In Badhaiya block of Munger district, there have been reports of rigging in. We have tried to contact the observers there and also the Senior Superintendent of Police,” said Lalu.

Munger, Banka and Kishanganj districts are considered to be pivotal constituencies for Lalu’s rival and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s party, Janata Dal United.

Meanwhile, Shekhar Suman, actor-turned-politician and a candidate of the Congress Party campaigned in Patna Sahib of Bihar from where he is contesting.

Suman’s son, Bollywood actor Adhyayan Suman along with wife Alka Suman, also campaigned for the actor.

“I have told them that I haven’t come here to play politics as I could have done it being in a different party which could have easily given me a winning seat,” said Suman.

Patna votes in the fourth phase on May 7.

There is a three-cornered contest involving Suman, another former Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ticket and RJD’s Vijay Sahu.

The remaining fourth and last round of polls in Bihar will be held for three seats on May 7. The first and second phases in 13 seats each were held on April 16 and April 23.

The outcome of the five-stage elections will be known on May 16. (ANI)

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Varun Gandhi continues to be defiant

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bulandshahr/ Aligarh, Apr 30 (ANI): The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has said that none, howsoever high and mighty, would be spared if he spreads religious hatred.

“Whosoever spreads communal violence, be it the Gandhi family, will be shown the right doors under the administration of Mayawati. A day wasn’t delayed in sending Varun Gandhi to jail,” said Satish Mishra, a BSP leader in an election rally in Bulandshahar.

Mayawati’s Government in Uttar Pradesh had detained Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) young face Varun Gandhi for his alleged hate speech during a public rally in March. A stringent National Security Act (NSA) was invoked the next day.

However Varun Gandhi, addressing a rally in Aligarh, remained defiant.

“I do not regret going to jail as I wasn’t detained for possession of illegal assets or any crime under the Section 302. I went to jail portraying nationalism and also in future, I will be ready to go to jail, ” said Varun Gandhi, who is the BJP’s candidate from Pilibhit constituency where he delivered the alleged hate speech.

Varun, who is presently on parole, was released from the Etah district jail in Uttar Pradesh on April 16 after he gave a fresh undertaking as per the directive of the Supreme Court that he will not make any inflammatory speeches.

Meanwhile, Amar Singh and actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt, key campaigners of the Samajwadi Party (SP), addressed a public meeting in Agra. (ANI)

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Political parties bank on Bollywood star ‘power’

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Apr 29 (ANI): A host of Bollywood celebrities have hit the hot and sultry campaign trail to support political candidates in Mumbai.

Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary was a crowd puller at a road show for ationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominee Sanjay Patil in Mumbai’s North-East constituency.
“All my wishes for Sanjay Patil. I think he is young, energetic and has a family history of serving people. All the people around seem to love him,” said Chaudhary.

Chaudhary had been campaigning for a various political parties in the past few weeks in different parts of the country as well.

The state’s ruling NCP headed by Sharad Pawar has also roped in Govinda, another popular star, to garner support for its candidate Vasant Davkhare in Thane constituency on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Govinda said that he would campaign for his friends whenever they needed him.

“During a tough phase in my life, Vasant Davkhare stood beside me as a friend. I respect him and his family a lot. I had been to Pune to give support. I am here as well and will be in all the places hopefully,” said Govinda.

Earlier, actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt , who is now a top functionary of the Samajwadi Party, and senior leader Amar Singh campaigned for Ramchandra R. Patil in Bhiwandi constituency near Mumbai. (ANI)

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Vinod Khanna campaigns in a train

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Gurdaspur (Punjab), Apr 28 (ANI): Ahead of the last three phases of general elections, the nominees of various parties are trying to woo the voters with every possible trick up their sleeves.

For instance, the actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna and a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Gurdaspur in Punjab campaigned in a train.
The veteran actor has been elected thrice from the Gurdaspur constituency as BJP’s nominee.

Khanna said that he canvassed for votes by travelling in a train since he was keen to learn about the grievances of the commuters.

“I wanted to know how is the train service from Pathankot to Amritsar, whether it’s good or not. When I asked people about the service, they said its okay, but they need more trains. I also wanted to see whether the train services are satisfactory or not,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, look-alikes of various Bollywood actors campaigned for Abu Asim Azmi, the candidate of the Samajwadi Party (SP) from North-West Mumbai.

However, Azmi could not be spotted in this mode of campaign.

The look-alikes were seen dancing to the tunes of Hindi movies music, which left the crowd enthralled. (ANI)

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Amar Singh expresses unhappiness over seat denial in West Bengal

April 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Apr 26 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) General Secretary Amar Singh on Sunday expressed unhappiness over denial of a seat to his party in West Bengal by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee.

“We wanted that the Congress, the SP and the Trinamool Congress should fight together. Hence, I appealed to Mamata Banerjee to give us a single seat even if it’s is a losing seat. We supported Banerjee during the Singur issue. We also supported her during her rift with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Despite all of this, Banerjee did not even talk or respond to our phone,” Amar Singh said at a press conference here.

Singh also claimed that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been disintegrated.

“The UPA has not broken but has been disintegrated. But after May 16, it will again be integrated,” Singh added.

Bollywood actor-turned politician Sanjay Dutt, who accompanied the SP leader here, expressed his emotional gratitude.

“It is a very emotional moment for me. I want to thank Amar Singh to find the house where my mother was born. I was in the room for 10 minutes just remembering my mother. I want to thank Kolkata and its people as she was born here,” Dutt said. (ANI)

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Candidates of various political parties file their nomination papers

April 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Gurdaspur/Ludhiana/Chennai, Apr 25 (ANI): Candidates of different political parties across India filed their nomination papers from their respective constituencies to contest in the ongoing elections to the Lok Sabha.

For instance, actor turned politician, Vinod Khanna filed his nomination to contest from Gurdaspur in Punjab.

The actor also happens to be the sitting parliamentarian from Gurdaspur from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Khanna sounded confident of his poll prospects and expressed his desire to serve the people of Gurdaspur once again.

“I have always believed that I am in love with the people of Gurdaspur and this land. This is the land of Gurus and I am Guru’s worker. I have come here to serve the people. I feel that this time I would win by the maximum margin of votes, and the people will give me a chance to serve them once again,” he said.

He was accompanied by his wife Kavita and BJP’s national general secretary Balbir Punj.

Khanna, joined the BJP in 1997, and defeated three-time parliamentarian Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, a political heavyweight to get elected to the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Kumar Sabharwal, an independent candidate, also filed his nomination papers from Ludhiana.ontroversy surrounds the candidature of Sabharwal since he is facing a trail on charges of murder.

However, he termed his involvement in the case as politically motivated by his opponents.

“The murder case against me is politically motivated. To finish that game, I have decided to contest the elections,” said Sabharwal.

It was nomination day in Southern India as well.

Dayanidhi Maran, son of Murasoli Maran, filed his nomination from Central Chennai constituency in Tamil Nadu.

Maran will be contesting the general elections for the second time on the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party ticket.

Dayanidhi Maran has declared that he has moveable and immoveable properties worth nearly 20 million rupees in his name and that of his wife and two children.

Maran lauded the State Government of Tamil Nadu that is ruled by his party and elaborated on the numerous pro-poor schemes initiated by it.

“The Tamil Nadu Government has been performing very well. We have been giving a kg of rice for one rupee, which is not there in any other parts of the country. We have been distributing free colour televisions. By end of this year, we would have distributed ten million and six hundred thousand colour television to the ration card holders. We are coming up with various medical schemes which would be implemented after the elections, which our leaders have announced, where the premium would be paid by the government,” said Dayanidhi Maran.

Speaking on the Lankan issue, Maran stated that the DMK wanted an immediate cease-fire so as to save the Lankan Tamils and if the demand of cease-fire is not met, then India should snap diplomatic ties with the island country. (ANI)

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Advani claims BJP will emerge as the single largest party

April 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Unnao/Rampur/Ahmedabad, Apr 24 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani has said his party would become the single largest party in the next Parliament.

“The BJP is going to emerge as the biggest party in the Lok Sabha elections. Once the result of the election is out, you will see that National Democratic Front led by BJP will form coalition government,” Advani said in a rally in Unnao.

“The whole talk of Third Front and Fourth Front is a joke. There is no basis to these assertions,” he added.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Ansari, who is contesting election from Rampur , lashed out at actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt.

“I want to say that Sanjay Dutt should stop all filmy gimmicks. He should give an answer to the people as to what he has done so far for Rampur in the past five years. Shedding crocodile tears, making terrorists stand on stage, showing filmy gimmicks, Rampur is not a cinema hall and the people of Rampur are not a film screen. The people of Rampur want to ask them what he has done,” Naqvi said.

In Ahmedabad, Raghu Ram, senior supervising producer at MTV India and the executive producer of the popular reality show MTV Roadies campaigned for Mallika Sarabhai, who is contesting against Advani, an independent from Gandhinagar constituency.

Raghu Ram said he wanted to tell the youth of the country to vote for change.

“I want to tell the youth to reject stagnation. If change does not happen now, we are doomed. You know the kind of threat our nation is facing and you know which government is supporting the terrorists,” said Ram. (ANI)

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Jayaprada files nomination papers from Rampur

April 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rampur / Ludhiana, Apr 21 (ANI): Actor-turned-politician and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Jayaprada has filed her nomination from Rampur seat in Uttar Pradesh

She was accompanied by SP General Secretary Amar Singh, actors-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt and Jaya Bachchan.

“Amar Singh said come and join us. I replied, don’t know how to give speech. Then Amar Singh said you just serve the public,” said Dutt, who has also been recently elevated as the party’s general secretary.

Before filing her nomination, Jayaprada addressed a public rally.

Meanwhile, in Ludhiana constituency of Punjab, Congress party spokesperson Manish Tiwari filed his nomination papers, accompanied by former state Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

“In the next five years, we will seek rupees 100 billion from the Central Government and utilize the money for the development of Ludhiana. The Akali Dal post advertisement of development but we, by changing these advertisements into reality, will show people of Ludhiana how development is done,” Tiwari said.

Tiwari’s Congress party is pitted against the coalition of the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Polling for Rampur and Ludhiana seats will take place in the fifth and final phase on May 13. (ANI)

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Salman Khan bats for Manmohan Singh as PM

April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Vadodara, Apr 20 (ANI): Bollywood actor Salman Khan batted for Manmohan Singh as Prime, saying Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be the next best bet.

“I would love Manmohan Singh to be the Prime Minister. I think he is very smart man and a genius,” he said.

Thousands of fans gathered here to catch a glimpse of Khan as he campaigned for Satyajeet Gaekwad, a Congress candidate from Vadodara constituency.

Khan, who has earlier campaigned for his friends cutting across the party lines, said that Rahul could follow Singh “when he was ready.”

Earlier, Khan had campaigned for Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in Bhandara region in Maharashtra.

Moreover, he has campaigned for veteran actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna, a BJP candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab. (ANI)

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Thousands cheer for Salman Khan as he campaigns in Maharashtra

April 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Nasik (Maharashtra), Apr 19 (ANI): It’s election time, but Bollywood is making a splash. With various actors showing up in political rallies or road shows, it’s the movie buffs who are having a field day watching their favourite heroes live.

The latest instance was witnessed on Sunday when Bollywood heartthrob Salman Khan showed up to campaign for a NCP candidate from Nasik.

Thousands of fans gathered at a road show to catch a glimpse of their favourite actor. Salman Khan was in Nasik to support NCP’s Sameer Bhujbal.

Despite waiting for a long time at Bhagwanpura in old Nasik, the spirits of these fans continued to remain high. They were later pleasantly surprised to see Khan, who made a grand entry here.

“We were waiting for Salman Khan for past three hours but when he came, he came with a bang. We liked it very much,” said Ijjaz Sheikh, a residentasik.

Earlier, Salman Khan had campaigned for Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in the state’s Bhandara region.

Khan has also campaigned for Congress party, soliciting votes for its candidate in Unnao region of Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, he has campaigned for veteran actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna, a BJP candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab. By Robin David (ANI)

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Mulayam Singh Yadav files his nomination from Mainpuri

April 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh), Apr 17 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday filed his nomination for the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency here.

After filing nomination, Yadav dispelled the allegations that his party’s election manifesto has any controversy.

“There is no controversy in our manifesto. Some ignorant people are creating unnecessary issues over it,” Yadav told reporters here.

According to the sources, actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt and party General Secretary Amar Singh accompanied Yadav to file his nomination papers. (ANI)

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Sanjay Dutt Booked For Violating Code Of Conduct

April 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Actor turned politician Sanjay Dutt has got another reason to be back in the news and perhaps again for all the wrong reasons.

It is learnt that an FIR has been lodged against Dutt for allegedly violating model code of conduct by making communal remarks in an election rally in Mau district. Giving this information,district police chief Ram Bharose said, “A case against Dutt was registered Tuesday night after he made communal remarks at a public meeting.”

The FIR was registered against the SP General Secretary at Dakkhin Tola police station.

“After seeing the video footage of the public meeting, the district authorities directed us to register the case against Dutt”, added Bharose.

During his speech, Dutt said, “When I was in police custody I was given third degree by them because my mother was a Muslim.”

Dutt was in the city to campaign for Samajwadi Party nominee Arshad Jamal Ansari who is contesting from Ghosi parliamentary seat.

It can be recalled here that the 49 year old bollywood actor joined the Samajwadi Party in January 2009. Dutt, popularly known as Munna-bhai was earlier given a ticket by the party to contest the elections from the prestigeous Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. However, the Supreme Court denied the permission to him for contesting these elections. Dutt has been convicted for owning illegal arms in the run-up to the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.

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Resignations shock Chiranjeevi, but says party will win

April 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, April 10 (IANS) Spate of resignations by the leaders of the Praja Rajyam Party has shocked its president and matinee idol Chiranjeevi but he is still confident of coming to power in Andhra Pradesh.

The actor-turned-politician Friday addressed a news conference, a day after party general secretary and spokesman Prakala Prabhakar quit, making serious allegations against the top leadership.

‘Our party will welcome those who want to come and will give a send-off to those who want to leave,’ he said, reacting to the series of resignations by party cadres during the last few days.

‘Are you still in the party?’ he asked party spokesman Mitra in a lighter vein when the latter came to sit beside him.

‘Do you have any doubt?’ asked Mitra.

‘It is not known who and when will give the shock,’ remarked Chiranjeevi.

The remarks are significant as Mitra is also reportedly unhappy with the style of functioning of Chiranjeevi and his brother-in-law and party general Allu Aravind.

Chiranjeevi said internal differences were common for any party but felt that such sweeping allegations should not be made. ‘If they make such allegations, they will be the losers,’ he said while denying that the party had sold assembly and Lok Sabha tickets to the aspirants.

‘Let somebody tell me how many businessmen, contractors and industrialists were given tickets by our party,’ he said while pointing out that the party fielded 35.4 percent of candidates from the backward classes.

He claimed this was the highest number of backward castes candidates fielded by any party in India’s history.

Chiru, as he is popularly known, said the tickets were allotted to candidates after three surveys conducted by the party.

While Allu Aravind was emotional in his reaction to Prabhakar’s allegations, Chiru was calm and cool.

‘Praja Rajyam is a miracle tree, which gives something to everybody,’ he said on Prabhakar’s remark that the party has become a ‘poisonous tree’.

The megastar was confident that his party would come to power, claiming that it had people’s support.

He also announced that the party would launch ‘rail yatra’ from Secunderabad railway station Saturday. ‘The aim of this yatra is to take our election symbol (rail engine) to people,’ he said.

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