Politics | Updated Mar 20, 2009 at 02:17pm IST

Chiranjeevi star power dents Cong confidence

Sandhya RavishankarSandhya Ravishankar, CNN-IBN

Hyderabad: Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi might maintain a stoic silence over his political plans but the Congress has already launched its attack.

State Marketing Minister M Mareppa is the most vocal and he's targeting Chiru's charities - blood and eye banks meant to help the poor.

“The blood banks are selling blood, not donating them. No one knows where the eyes are going. We want a white paper on his charities,” he says.

Chiru's larger-than-life image is expected to help him make a considerable dent in the Congress' vote bank when the state goes to polls next year. A worried Congress is trying to attack just that.

“Chiranjeevi must also show his remuneration from his acting years. How much has he earned and what is the income tax he has paid. He must declare all this before he contests elections,” says Mareppa.

Chiranjeevi and his party workers have chosen not to react to the Congress' attack. But the mega star's fans are angry.

“The Congress is behaving very badly. They're obviously scared of Chiranjeevi's entry into politics,” says one angry fan.

The political scene in the state is slowly re-aligning to accommodate the star's entry. Telugu Desam Party MLA Devendra Goud called it quits with the party on Monday over differences with party chief Chandrababu Naidu on the issue of statehood for Telangana.

Speculation abound he is all set to join Chiranjeevi.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)

Comments (9)

All comments will be published after moderation

Trending Searches

#Asha Bhosle #Shiv Sena #Multiple sclerosis #Aamir Khan #Aung San Suu Kyi #Smoking cessation #Asiatic Lion #Pujara #Abhishek Bachchan #Shiv Sena #Narendra Modi #Jagan #Parkash Singh Badal #Naveen Patnaik #Manmohan Singh #Kashmiri Pandit #Assam #Petrol price #Sheila Dikshit