Thought Garage

News broke out a year back that Chiranjeevi will merge with Congress and kill his brain child, Praja Rajyam Party. But they completely rejected the idea saying that it was a rumour. Now it is official. Praja Rajyam Party is now officially DEAD. The END. It merges with Congress party, as Chiranjeevi and his 18 odd leaders think that Congress suddenly became a great political party and share their views and beliefs. Why? Why Now? You must be kidding if you are still wondering. What a big drama for the last three years in the name of …. what a crap. Forget about it.

Everybody knows what Chiranjeevi said before the elections in 2009 about Congress Party and TDP. Now Chiranjeevi says, Praja Rajyam Party is identical in principles to Congress party , so they will work together in upcoming Elections, even though they don’t merge. He will lend his friendly hand to Congress. How hilarious? All for one Rajya Sabha seat? It confirms the once infamous news story that Eenadu.com ran a while ago, that Praja Rajyam party will close its shop and merge with Congress.  Praja Rajyam Party really thinks they are no different from Congress, or at least they hate TDP as much as Congress do. Also it appears, these talks of merger and alliances have been going on each time there is some kind of election. It is clear, he is struggling to find an identify for himself and the party as it has been a total disaster at the poll booth and everything he did after that. No principles. No core beliefs. Its just dancing to the wind. Before Elections, Chiranje...

This is the same question in everybody in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. What went wrong? Why Chiranjeevi gave such a flop show so far in politics? Family interference, lack of clarity, lack of organization … ??? That reminds of me of wonderful comments Jaya Sudha made comparing NTR and Chiranjeevi : It was so eloquently said. ‘surrounded by family’ definitely must have some responsibility over the high handling of affairs. But that must be left to the grace of the party and Chiru himself to realize that. She demonstrated her respect and compliments for both NTR and Chiranjeevi and added so much clarity to key differences between them. There is no way Chiranjeevi can become anything like NTR. And it is a mistake to expect anything of that sort. I only hope, Chiranjeevi make a history for himself in his own style. Last one year had been terrible, but I don’t think it is fair to write off so soon.

The reel life ‘Mega’ star Chiranjeevi’s  real life appears to be coming to a tragic end, in Politics. Eenadu (the news paper outlet, unmistakably the opposition party TDP’s torch bearer) reported that 7 PRP MLAs and few other leaders met with party secretary Allu Aravind and proposed to dissolve and combine PRP with ruling congress party. Other news indicate about 12 MLAs ready to take a plunge while rest of the them waiting for Chiranjeevi to accompany. Its not a big surprise to me. While Eenadu has been totally biased in interpreting events to favor TDP, it never reported lies. So I would take it as real, irrespective of whatever political spin Congress and PRP may put on to it. “Why I pray with Love, For Chiru To Fail in Politics ” Today’s news reminded me of an email sent by a Chiranjeevi’s ardent fan after Chiranjeevi announced his entry into politics.   "I love Chiru more than my brother and I offered prayers today that Chiru annaya would see how bad ...

“There is no Praja Rajyam party without Mitra”, said Chiranjeevi few days before the election and amidst resignations by senior leaders. Now, Mitra resigned from the party too, citing that he could not adjust in the party. Not sure whether he could not adjust with policies, values or people within the party. He gracefully and respectfully did not point fingers at anybody and refused to talk any internal matters outside. I respect that.  Internal matters are internal matters. So, now the most important question is, can Praja Rajyam survive? With Mitra’s resignation,  all founding members of the Party have walked away from the party, except Chiranjeevi himself. I am not sure who else is left in the party. But it appears, the honeymoon is now officially over. The belief of ‘public’ affection and ‘call for service by people’ has been proven to be a mirage. Now, support from think tanks appears to be waning as well. Can he resurrect, just like he does in his silver screen ...

I was ecstatic when I first heard about Chiranjeevi coming into politics. But that ecstasy lived only for a few hours, until I watched the video of his announcement. After a lot of thought on watching his first announcement, I came to conclusion that entering into politics has some far reaching motives than shameless confessions of giving back to community that gave him this silver screen demonic successful life. I have expressed my frustration and missed opportunity in my blog posts in the following days. And became a serious critique of his hypo critic political game plans, including the infamous social justice drama (or I call it caste exploitation), well before lots of others. Anyways, rest is history. The ‘silence’ in revolution is true to an extent, just that the silence means a clear rejection of his drama in real life. Having garnered about 5% of seats, I hope, everybody now understand that ‘people’ did not call him, whatever that means. Now having a mega flop at ballot...

Every Political leader vowed their lives to serve the people. They also said, they have no ‘interest’ of any kind in ‘power’ but to serve the people. At least, that is what they said, before the election. For almost two months leading up to the Election, they kept on talking tirelessly, day and night, in every media outlet and public meeting, how they would like to serve the people and how they want to stand with the people in the thick and the thin of times. Elections are over almost a month ago. How many of those leaders now stood in the midst of people? How many of them went back to people? How many of them want to campaign now with the people to solve their problems. The very problems political leaders used as their campaign slogans are still there. Be it condition of farmers, welfare, education, wages, projects or what ever.  Why aren’t they continuing their fight against corruption any more? Why aren’t they fighting on behalf of people any more? Why aren’t they organizing m...

Changing makeup and costumes is an integral part of Movie actor's life that is hard to leave. Here are few pictures from PRP Praja Ankita Yatra showing Chiranjeevi in different costumes. Reliving the life of an Actor or truly trying to understand the issues by enacting common man's life in costumes? Hard to tell.

It is very surprising these days, why people are turning up so heavily to Political road shows, in most cases, irrespective of the political party. Thought, many people just want to come see their matinee idol's real face when they poured in to Chiranjeevi's meetings. But quite baffled to see similar (but not equal) response to every other political meeting. Political polarization? Want to just watch how it goes? or signs of political action? (Images from Eenadu.net )

Immediately following Barack Obama's historic win in the US, leader of Praja Rajyam party announced that he will do in Andhra Pradesh, India what Obama did in the USA and win in the elections. Now Chandra Babu Naidu, the chief of TDP Party, once hailed as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh across the world, goes one step ahead in his own style. He wanted to follow the grass roots movement that Obama managed to setup in the USA. Chandra Babu Naide started teaching the basics of Grassroots movement to TDP party men and energizing party youth to follow the steps. This is nothing new to people that know how Chandra Babu governed the state of Andhra Pradesh for about 9 years. He drew his inspiration from all over the world and initiated many programs that involve the very grass roots engagement. 'Prajala Vaddaku Palana', Janma Bhumi, Sramadanam are just a few to name. Eenadu, the news paper that provide unconditional (totally biased) support to TDP, even forged an image of Chandra ...

Politics often come in the way of Development. Some times, for no reason. In the name of stopping Political corruption, this time, major political parties are blocking a huge Infrastructure project that will eventually benefit Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Will it be a missed opportunity? Because, we are already running out of time in building our infrastructure. Coastal Corridor is a part of monumental infrastructure development project that will build or extend : 5 SEZs Ports Roads Airports and Rail If political parties are really interested in the welfare of people and are afraid of injustice done to those land/property owners, then they must fight to arrange for proper and fair displacement and fair market value for the property involved. Not block the project itself, that will alter the lives of the very people. The following snapshots taken from a presentation by AP PCPIR depict that this monumental project aiming to achieve. It doesn't look li...

During the much hyped Yuva Gharjana, the Youth meet of Telugu Desam Party held on 5th of Nov,  Congress Party has broadcast an Ad featuring Nagarjuna praising Congress created welfare programs, "100 Days Guaranteed Work for workers and Indira Pension plan". Watch the ad. So Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi going separate ways? Many Chiranjeevi fans were predicting that Nagarjuna will officially promote and back Chiranjeevi's party, given the fact that both are very close and have business relationships. This looks like a shock to many. With flood of Movie Stars joining Politics, does stardom matter? TDP got Nandamuri family actors. Praja Rajyam got Chiranjeevi's family of film actors. Congress breaks away family ties and got Nagarjuna and Mahesh babu, the two actors that are much more popular and loved by lot more people than both (above) families together. And Jayasudha and Raja Sekhar too. That may definitely gives Congress one notch up, the film stars tally....