NTR gives the jitters to Naidu

Jr NTr has taken a four day break from his whirlwind tour of the West Godavari. His spokesperson has sighted that the part Chief Chandrababu Naidu had directed NTR to take a break to attend to his deteriorating vocal chords. But the insiders have a different take on the developments. They say it is the fallout of an ego tussle between the father and son duo of harikrishna and Jr NTR.
NTR Jr and Harikrishna seem to be giving Chandrababunaidu sleepless nights. It all began when NTR abruptly halted his West Godavari tour for sometime in Bheemavaram. Naidu had to intervene to settle the issue before NTR started on his roadshow.
Bone of Contention
The candidature for the Gannavaram Assembly seat seems to be the bone of contention. Chandrababu Naidu cannot take the mercurial Junior NTR for granted came to light on Wednesday when the TDP star campaigner abruptly halted his road show for some time in West Godavari upon learning that his producer-friend Vamsi Mohan was denied the Gannavaram assembly ticket.
The y say that it all began in the morning when Naidu tried to pull a fast one by fielding Dasari from Gannavaram in order to pacify his brother-in-law (Harikrishna), tried to convince Vamsi to contest from Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency against sitting MP Lagadapati Rajagopal. NTR had recommended that the Gannavarm seat be given to his good friend Vamsi. So when Junior NTR learnt about the development from his friend he did take the rebuttal very kindly. A stung Naidu spoke to Jr NTR assuring him that he would not finalise the Gannavaram ticket issue without consulting the actor. That it seems is the real story behind the Ugadi break. Clearly the Ugadi festivities are hitting a crescendo in the TDP.

The grand mess

Mahakutami in a grand mess
Things are going from bad to worse in the Mahakutamai as the debate over the contentious seat sharing issue threatens to tear the grand alliance right down the centre.Angered wit the fighting over seats between the TDP (Telugu Deasm Party) and the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti), ‘big brother’ CPM has decided to thrown its weight around, demanding that it be given more seats than the CPI. Understandably the smaller member of the Left Front, CPI does not like the idea and is seriously opposing the CPM overture. The CPI settled for 16 assembly and four Lok Sabha seats. But the CPM kicked up a tantrum on Wednesday, by going public with the list of 20 assembly seats it wants to contest. The CPM is insisting that it be given 20 if the CPI is being given 16.Until then Naidu had been saying that he would be able to give the two left parties 16 seats each and not more. It is being speculated thatthe TDP chief has made a new proposition offering 16 Assembly seats to the CPM and offering 13 to the CPI. The CPI, is in no mood to give up and is insisting that it will not accept anything less than 16 assembly seats.With three days left for filing the nominations the least we can expect is a few more twists to the tale. Long live coalition politics. If only we could have a reality show based on seat sharing in Andhra.

With less than a month to go for the assembly elections the political campaigns are gaining momentum. The stage seems set for a triangular battle between the Mahakutami(grand alliance), Prarajarajyam Party and the ruling Congress party.

Mahakutami : United we stand.

We'll leave the grand alliance out of it as it looks like an unweildy alliance of essentially antagonistic parties opposed to the congress. Except the hatered for the congress the mahakutami does not have a common ground. Besides the credibility of leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and KCR leaves a lot to be desired as the two have done a volte face many times in the past. How else can we explain sworn enemies like KCR and Chandrababu Naidu fighting the elections together. Well all is fair is love and politics I guess. The poster boy of reforms and "Samaikhya Andhra" has done a U turn to become an "All Free Babu." The less said about KCR the better.

Hope against hope:
Now that leaves us with just the Praja Rajyam as an unlikely serious contender to the ruling congress which has an impressive track record thanks to a well chalked out development agenda. Perhaps that is why most pre poll surveys have been pointing to a congress victory but the megastar Chiranjeevi has announced that the people will prove the pundits wrong. Well lets leave the surveys to the experts and try do an objective analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the PRP before we jump to conclusions about its prospects.

Strengths:
Chiranjeevi. Yes he is not my favourite filmstar but his popularity among the masses cannot be questioned. His clean image and the promise of "Change" when taken at face value do lend some hope. The same applies for his grand agenda of of "Samajika Nyayam" (social justice) which seems like a throw back to his angry youngman days on the reel, though it is not clear how he seeks to translate the rhetoric into reality, Chiru has been branding social justice as his USP. Yes the promise of free land, education to girls from Kg to Pg, the essential commodities for just Rs.100, free health care..... all look impressive on paper. Chiru being a kapu, a community which makes up an electoral majority in the state will be hoping to be his lucky charm. That explains the promise of fielding atleast 100 candidates belonging to the community. Being popular actor he used his position well to carve an image of being socially responsible with his well publisiced social works, the blood bank being the biggest draw.

Caught in the wrong job?

Weakness

Chiranjeevi.Yes the biggest stumbling block for the Praja Rajyam is Chiranjeevi himself. Here is why. Their biggest crowd puller could prove to be their biggest negative. For all his virtues Chiranjeevi is not his own man. So he has to rely on the likes of his brother-in-law Allu Arvind and other members of his family to for all crucial decisions. Agreed Chiranjeevi is the only Kapu superstar in a kamma dominated industry but his family affiliations played a big role in the making of Chiru the icon. In politics however, that could prove to be counter productive as he will have to earn respect of his peers as somebody who is willing to take some tough decisions. Besides the over dependence on family could distance him from the party workers. The family inerference has already got the part a lot of bad press.
Comming to his grand promise of "change." On one side he talks about how corrupt and devoid of ideology is politics af the day but at the same time the Praja Rajyam seems to be drawing dissident leaders from the same corrupt parties (to put it in Chiru's words). Agreed he cannot contest from everywhere but how can you hope to change the entire setup with the same old players at the helm. Don't they say the more the things change the more they remain the same.

Predicament

The schemes, though impressive to look at on paper do not stand out in an election year in which has been raining promises. Infact all the parties seem to be promising imcrements to what the ruling congres has already been doing. Be it free power, health, education and employement. So the big question is will the public fall for it. My guess is no. So looks like the congress will have the last laugh as they seem to be the only party that has more than day dreams to offer.