TDP clears Nani’s name for Vijayawada LS

Nani ‘rattled’ by reports that Pawan Kalyan proposed P. Varaprasad's name. Meanwhile, discontent continued in the TDP rank and file over allocation of some important seats to the BJP as part of the alliance.

The Telugu Desam Party has finally cleared the candidature of Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani from the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency.

The decision came after Mr. Nani called on TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu at his residence on Monday morning. Though what transpired in the meeting was not known yet, the TDP president is learnt to have assured Mr. Nani that he was the party’s choice from the prestigious constituency.

Mr. Nani had been nurturing the constituency for some time now after receiving an assurance from the party leadership, but doubts were expressed on whether he would be allotted the ticket. Mr. Nani was reportedly unnerved by claims of a section of leaders that film star and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan had strongly recommended the name of his close confidant Potluri Varaprasad to the TDP leadership.

A formal announcement of Mr. Nani’s candidature will be made in the next list likely to be released by the TDP leadership on Monday midnight or early Tuesday. “His (Mr. Nani’s) name has been finalised and we will officially announce it any moment from now,” a senior leader engaged in the screening exercise told The Hindu.

Protests continue

Meanwhile, discontent continued in the TDP rank and file over allocation of some important seats to the BJP as part of the alliance. A section of the TDP cadre damaged furniture in the party office in the Vijayawada West constituency in protest against allotting the seat to the BJP while their counterparts in Nellore staged protest against the decision to give Nellore Rural seat to the saffron party.

TDP activists ransacked the party’s office at Kaikalur in Krishna district for giving away the seat, a stronghold of the party, to the BJP. They disrupted a meeting of the important leaders of the constituency demanding re-nomination of Jayamangala Venkataramana who won from the seat in the previous elections.

Happy Birthday to NTR

ఫేరు వింటే పరవశం..
తలచుకుంటే తన్మయం..
ఒక తరాన్ని తన నటన తో వుర్రూతలూపి..
ఒక తరాన్ని చేయి పట్టుకు రాజకీయ ఓనమాలు దిద్దించి....
ఒక తరానికి వేగు చుక్కలా వినీలాకాశంలో నిలిచిన ...ఒకే ఒక్కడు..

ఆతను నవరసభరితమైన నటనలో రాగద్వేషాలని..రక్తి కట్టించి రసజగత్తు లో జనసామాన్యాన్ని  ఓలలాడించిన విధం నభూతో నభవిష్యతి..
రాముడిగా రావణునిగా
కృష్ణునిగా కృష్ణరాయలుగా
భీష్మునిగా భీమునిగా
కర్ణునిగా కిరీటిగా
బృహన్నలగా భబ్రువాహనునిగా
సత్యహరిశ్చంద్రునిగా
సుయోధన సామ్రాట్టుగా..
చెప్పుకుంటూపోతే.. చిత్రాలు ఎన్నో..
అంతులేని కథ ఆయన
మత్తగజాల ఘీంకారాలు ఆ మందహాసం ముందు మూగబోయాయి
మేరుపర్వతాలు పదివేలు ఆ మొండితనం ముందు మోకరిల్లాయి
వేలవెన్నెల రాత్రులు ఆ వదనారవిందం ముందు వెలవెలపోయాయి

ముక్కుసూటి..ఆవేశం.. మొండితనం.. పట్టుదల.. క్రమశిక్షణ..పదాలకు పర్యాయపదం  ఆయన..

ఎంతగా ఎదిగినా..
జనహితం మరువని జగదేకవీరుడతను..
యుగధర్మం తప్పని యుగపురుషుడాయన..
అందుకే..

అన్నవస్త్రాలు లేక అల్లాడుతున్న జనాన్ని వదిలి..
ఆకాశమర్గాన అవినీతి స్వర్గాన హడావిది గ వెళ్తున్న
రాజకీయ రధచక్రాల్ని..
భూమార్గం పట్టించి భూకంపం సృష్టించిన భగీరథుదు NTR

దశాబ్దాలుగా దారితప్పి
దేశరాజధాని లో దేహీ దేహీ అంటున్న
రాష్ట్ర రాజకీయాల్ని
భాగ్యనగరం దిశ పట్టించి మన భాగ్యరేఖల్ని మార్చినవాడు NTR.

గుడిసెల ముందు రాజకీయాన్ని తెచ్చి గుట్టగాపోసిన గుండెగుడిదేవుడాయన..
చైతన్యరధమెక్కి చైతన్యాన్ని అడుగడుగునచాటిన చరిత్రకారుడాయన..
పేదప్రజలకోసం తనదైనప్రపంచాన్ని సృష్టించిన విశ్వామిత్రుడాయన..

వేలవేలు నాయకులున్నా ఒకేఒక్కడిగా ఆయన మాత్రమే ఎందుకు ఎదిగాడు..
పూరిగుడిసెల్లో పటాలు, గుండెగుండెలో గుడి ఆయనకి మాత్రమే ఎందుకున్నాయి..

ఎంత మందికి తెల్సు..1980 కి ముందు జరిగిన వరకట్నహత్యలు..
ఎంత మందికి తెల్సు..1980 కి ముందు మీ ప్రజాప్రతినిధి ఎవరో..
ఎంత మందికి తెల్సు..1980 కి ముందు సగం ఊళ్ళకి బస్సులు కుడా లేవని..

NTR రాజకీయ ప్రవేశం తో  రాజకీయాల కి రంగు,రుచి,వాసన వచ్చాయి..

ప్రజలు ప్రశ్నించటం నేర్చుకున్నారు..

ఆడపడుచులకి అస్తిహక్కు వచ్చింది..
రైతాంగానికి రాయితీలు వచ్చాయి..
పల్లెల్లో ప్రాథమిక అవసరాలు తీరాయి..

నేలవిడిచి సాము చేసే నాయకుల నారతీసిన నిరంకుశుడాయన..
పల్లెపల్లెకి పరిపాలనని తీసుకెళ్ళిన ప్రజారాముడాయన..
అధికారయంత్రాంగం అహంకారాన్ని అణిచిన రాజారాముడాయన...

జనం గుండెఘోషనే తనశ్వాసగా మార్చుకుని..
మదిమదిని మైమరిపించిన మహానాయకుడు..

చిరకాలం చెప్పుకునే చందమామకథ ఆయన..
కలత నిద్దుర కలల్లోని కమ్మనిరూపం ఆయన..
ఉదయసాయంసంధ్యల్లో ఉత్తేజపరిచే ఊహ ఆయన..

శక్తిగా మారిన ఒకవ్యక్తి ఆయన..
చరిత్ర కి చిక్కని చిత్రం ఆయన..

అందుకే..అరవయ్యేళ్ళుగా
జనం జీవితాల్లో జీవనది NTR

సూర్యచంద్రులు వున్నన్నాళ్ళు..
కృష్ణాగోదావర్లు పారినన్నాళ్ళు..
తెలుగువారి తొలిదైవం NTR
ఆంధ్రులకి ఆత్మగౌరవాన్నితెచ్చి..
మద్రాసీమచ్చకి మందువేసి..
విశ్వవినువీధుల్లో తెలుగుజెండాని ఎగరేసి సగర్వంగా చెయ్యెత్తి జైకొట్టిన తెలుగోడు..

తను నవ్వితే..జనం నవ్వారు.. ఏడిస్తే జనం ఏడ్చారు ..
తనలోనే  దైవాన్ని చూసారు..

ఆ చైతన్యరథం రేపిన దుమ్ము తొలగకముందే.. వడివడిగా వెళ్ళిపోయాడు ఆ రాముడు..
కమ్మకులకీర్తిచంద్రుదు శ్రీ నందమూరి తారకరాముని 87 వ జయంతి రోజున అంజలి ఘటిస్తూ..
 నా ఆత్మబంధువు కి అక్షరాభిషేకం చేస్తున్నాను..

"ఆత్మబంధూ !
 నీ అభిమాన సింధువు* లో నేనొక బిందువుని మాత్రమే..      (సింధువు-- సముద్రం)          
 పుష్కరాలకోసం ఎదురుచూసే వరదగోదావరి లా..
 అన్నా ! నీ  కోసంఆర్తిగా ఎదురుచూస్తున్నాం..
 మళ్ళీ పుట్టు మా కోసం.."

కన్నీటి తో..

అన్న నంధమూరి తారక రామారావు గారికి

 జన్మదిన శుభాకాంక్షలు

Telugu Desam Party MPs to contribute Rs4crore to AP flood relief

Hyderabad: Eight Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs have decided to contribute a sum of Rs4crore from their Local Area Development Fund to take up a special restoration project in the worst flood-hit parts of the state.

The NTR Trust will contribute a matching grant of Rs2crore for this project, party president N Chandrababu Naidu said.

"We are chalking out details of the works and will take them up in identified places soon," he told a press conference here today.

The Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao has contributed Rs10lakh personally to the NTR Trust while all the party MPs (six Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha) would be contributing their two months salary.

The NTR Trust, along with the TDP machinery, was in the forefront of the rescue and relief operations in the flood-hit districts of the state. Apart from supplying food, drinking water, clothes and other essentials to the flood victims, the NTR Trust has pressed 150 doctors into service for organising special medical camps in the affected areas.

Our doctors have attended to over 2lakh patients while medicines worth Rs one crore have been distributed, Naidu said. He sent out 3.80crore messages on all mobile phones seeking help for the flood victims.

There has been an overwhelming response to our call as people from students to businessmen donated to our Trust, he said.

Students of Bhashyam School donated Rs10,116 to Naidu at the press conference.

More than the government machinery, it was the non-governmental organisations that did stupendous work in the aid of the flood victims. We are going to felicitate officials and non-officials who did their might in reaching out to the flood-hit people in the hour of misery, Naidu said.

Triumphal gestures can await results: NTR Jr

VISAKHAPATNAM: Thigh -slapping and twirling of moustaches can wait till the election results, declared TD brand ambassador NTR Jr.

He was responding to the clamour that he do as Chiranjeevi and uncle Balakrishna have been doing on the stump.

Instead, he asked his audience to work seriously and earnestly for the party’s victory, and only then would all those triumphal gestures be justified.

As the roadshow wended its way along the rural areas of the district, the 26-year-old voiced confidence that the TDP would win in the coming polls.

The alternative, he feared, would be grim. If voted to power, the Congress could well hike the price of rice to Rs 100 a kg, he warned.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at Chodavaram in the district, the TDP’s trump card said that whereas Andhra Pradesh once used to be called “Annapoorna’’ Pradesh, after the Congress’ stint in government it had acquired the dubious tag of ``Avineeti’’ Pradesh, he added.

Before coming into the power, the Congress had promised an agrarian transformation.

The fact that the price of rice was now around Rs 30 and climbing testified to the state of affairs, he said, and drew a frightening scenario of the price increasing three-fold if the party returned to power.

Modulating his voice to great effect, the khaki-clad hero appealed to the people to vote TDP.

Braving scorching heat, enthusiastic crowds jammed every nook and corner all along the route.

Accompanying NTR Jr were Kona Tata Rao and actor Rajiv Kanakala.

If junior NTR is a ‘baby crow’, Rahul is a ‘baby vulture’: TDP

Guntur: Taking exception at Congress leaders describing film actor Junior N T R, who is campaigning for the party, as an ‘infant crow’, the TDP has labeled Congress General secretary Rahul Gandhi as a ‘baby vulture’.

The Congress is scared of the huge crowds that Junior NTR gathers for his roadshows, hence they are belittling the actor, the senior TDP leader N Raja Kumari told reporters.

If Junior NTR, who is the grandson of TDP founder N T Rama Rao, is ‘infant crow’, Rahul Gandhi and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y Rajasekhar Reddy's son Jagan are ‘baby vultures’, she said.

The leader also criticised Rama Rao's wife Laxmi Parvathi who is campaigning for the Congress in the northern coastal part of the state. "This will torment the soul of NTR who vowed to destroy the Congress," she said.

NTR Jr attracts huge crowds at Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM/VIZIANAGARAM: The roadshow of Telugu Desam trump card NTR Jr, which drew mammoth and enthusiastic crowds in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram over the last six days, made its triumphal entry into Visakhapatnam late in the evening.

It entered the district through Pendurty, where vast throngs milled around for a glimpse of the youth in khaki.

As compared to most other parties, the TD -- only 27 years old -- was young and vibrant, he said. Tearing into the Congress, he said its much-hyped welfare schemes were meant for party leaders and followers, and not for the people.

He also criticised the Employment Assurance Scheme along the same lines.

As for the Praja Rajyam’s slogan, he told a huge gathering at Gopalapatnam that it was for the cause of social justice that the TDP was born.

Citing some names from the region, NTR Jr credited the TDP with ensuring that they rose to prominence, not only in the State but at the Centre as well.

A vote for TD, would be a vote for welfare, he said.

The crowds roared with approval, savouring NTR Jr’s mannerisms and punchlines. When he touched on local issues, such as the Jindal mine, the response was thunderous. At every junction the locals stopped him and urged him to speak.

He will tour Visakhapatnam district till March 19 and then move on to East Godavari.

Return of NTR, with a bang

Like grandfather, like grandson.

Thirteen years after NTR died, another NTR was back on Saturday, campaigning for his uncle’s political future.

NTR Junior, a Telugu film actor with two blockbusters under his belt, turned the clock back by 15 years as young men and women jostled for a glimpse of the late Andhra icon’s grandson in Tekkali, about 610km north-east of Hyderabad.

The young actor took the coastal town, where NTR had won in 1994, by storm as he campaigned for the alliance of the Telugu Desam, led by uncle Chandrababu Naidu, Telengana Rashtra Samiti, the CPI and the CPM for the coming polls.

Few could distinguish between NTR and his grandson, who had the same looks, way of speaking and close-to-heart approach with people. Asked by some elders how he learnt to speak like NTR, the young actor quipped: “My Tata (grandfather) taught me.”

Even veterans like former NDA minister K. Yerran Naidu were dumbstruck by the adoration NTR Junior enjoyed and his public oratory. “He is a chip of the old lion,” said the leader of the Desam parliamentary party.

NTR Junior is the son of N.T. Rama Rao’s third son, Harikrishna. He made his debut in Telugu films with Ramoji Rao’s Student Number One and has starred in more than 20 films.

Jr NTR mother concerned about his health

The mother of Junior NTR enquired about his health over phone on Sunday morning when he was getting ready for the road shows from a make-shift night halt camp. She was anguished that he was moving around in the sun.



The star campaigner revealed this at a road show and said that he tried to calm down his mother that he was overjoyed by the affection shown by the crowds everywhere ignoring the hot sun and urged her not to worry.



Junior NTR praised the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, as a competent driver to steer the Andhra Pradesh bus in the right direction. “He drove it successfully for nine years by developing all major sectors. Later, he handed over the bus to Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy who has been steering the iron body after selling the engine. Another trainee driver is aspiring to handle the same steering. However the commuters (public) are demanding Mr Naidu for a safe and healthy drive,” he said.

Balakrishna From Hindupur

Official and confirmed actor-turned-politician Balakrishna would contest the polls from the Hindupur constituency in Anantapur district, incidentally this is the same constituency his legendry father the great NTR also fought his first election.

It was only natural that Balakrishna would contest from here as in many ways he was always considered not only the apt acting heir but also the legitimate political heir to NTR.

Though it takes no great political acumen to realize that Balakrishna would eventually win this one, one hopes that he would make a good parliamentarian and contributes to the might of the state and his party TDP.

NTR Jr plays the senior

ITCHAPURAM: The TDP’s trump card, actor NTR Jr, kicked off his campaign from Itchapuram on the northern most tip of the protruding arm of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, delivering punches on the face of the Congress and calling upon people to protect “political power in the State” from the Congress.

He said: “Fruits of development should reach people. But under the present dispensation, the Congressmen have looted them, leaving nothing for you.” The State was far from being a Rythu Rajyam as the Congress claimed, he said and asked, “why should 6,000 farmers commit suicide, if what Congressmen say is true?” He praised TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu for giving a vision to the State. “Every one had said that the end had begun for the TDP after NTR’s demise. But Chandrababu Naidu proved them wrong by not only protecting, but also strengthening it further,” he said.

The film actor spent considerable time recalling the services of his grandfather like introduction of Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme and conferring property rights on women. He started his campaign from this obscure town since it was from here that the late NTR had begun his campaign and created history way back in 1982.

He began his journey southwards at a time when his uncle and actor Balakrishna is journeying northwards from the southern most tip of the State - Tada in Nellore district.

NTR Jr, who has a considerable following among the youth, brought them outdoors with his magnetic personality and as he addressed them at whistle-stop meetings on his chaitanya ratham, they went crazy. Dressed in khaki, he reached here by a chopper and got cracking after offering prayers to Goddess Swetchavati.

As he spoke, his fans rained flowers on him which were specially bought from Kadiyapulanka of East Godavari district. He visited 20 villages on the first day. However, police played spoilsport at one place, booking him and TDP leader Yerran Naidu for conducting a roadshow without permission.