Chiru charisma failed to strike chord with voters

PRP chief was unsuccessful in taking party to grassroots level

Chiranjeevi launched the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) in August 2008 amid huge expectations from his Telugu fans. After polling, a confident  Chiru spoke of a “silent revolution” on whose crest he would ride to power.

But he had spoken too soon and had entirely misread the people. The voters gave his party a mere 18 seats in the 294-seat Assembly and not a single seat in the Lok Sabha.

A much-chastened Chiru was gracious in defeat. He urged his followers not to feel defeated. “This is the beginning, not the end,” he said, striking a positive note. The only positive development was that the PRP got 15 per cent of the votes polled and this would enable it to keep its symbol and recognition as a major political party.

So why did the glamour fail the megastar? He had hoped to do an NTR, into whose shoes he stepped in as the most popular film hero from the 1980s onwards. NTR had launched Telugu Desam Party in 1982 and within nine months rode to power, becoming the first non-Congress chief minister. But the political situation was very different then. The Congress was in tatters, divided deeply into factions. There was a huge vacuum politically and NTR stepped into it.

Chiru entered a crowded political stage. There was hardly a political vacuum but his plank of social justice was a winner. Chiru evoked an extremely positive response from the people. But he failed to build on it.

Chiru also failed to take the party to the grassroots level despite having a massive fan following and fan clubs in every mandal. They were kept at an arm’s length and their advice ignored.

They advised him to contest from Narsapuram in his home district of West Godavari. He chose to go by his advisers and opted to contest from Palakole, where he was roundly defeated by an unknown woman candidate of the Congress. (Chiru won from Tirupati though).

The alienation of the fans was so thorough that some of them in East and West Godavari celebrated Chiru’s defeat. The fall was such that the PRP won only five seats in these two districts that were considered Chiru’s stronghold, especially, since these are dominated by the Kapu community to which Chiru belongs.

Political clout

Chiru was expected to give a political clout and consolidate the Kapu community in politics as NTR had done to his Kamma community.

But it did not happen and the blame is being laid at the door of his mentor and chief manager Allu Arvind, who too was roundly defeated from the Anakapalle Lok Sabha seat.

Chiru was in a hurry to become the chief minister. Even after several months of launching the party, there was no organisation or cadres worth the name at the grassroots level.

So is this the end of the road for PRP and Chiru? Not really, says Ashok Tankasala, editor of Telugu daily Vaartha. “There is (political) room for Chiru and his social justice issue. Those who have taken up this issue on the political stage are very few. In this context, the stage is wide open for Chiru,” he said.
DH News Service