When the Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi plunged into politics amidst huge mounting budget deficit in AP and lot of public disenchantment about two families, two communities and two parties, he seems to have lost a historic opportunity that was straight and was rather easy. Is it a lost opportunity forever???
There were two kinds of conflicting assessments about this great film star when entered into politics. Chiranjeevi's loyalists and close confidants hoped that Chiranjeevi shall repeat the landslide victory of legendary actor NT Rama Rao. On the other hand skeptics were of the opinion that Chiranjeevi will be a damp squib. Or else at most he shall perform like Vijay Kanth of Tamil Nadu. But, the Telugu voters proved both these assessments wrong. Chiranjeevi could manage to get over 17 percent of popular vote which is almost 50 PC share the cong(I) voting which has formed the govt.
For those who wanted to see him as chief minister and expected this to happen, it was an indigestible surprise. But, given the political odds in which Chiru camp faced these elections, even the extent of votes his party polled is certainly significant. His electoral performance belied the hopes of those who speculated that Chiranjeevi would disappear from political scene after the elections. In fact Chiranjeevi faced the elections against many odds some from within some from the outside. The ruling party was not facing a devastating anti incumbency there was a vote bank for it supported by huge money power. This has been proved by the election result later. Another side was a formidable opposition in the form of Telugu Desam party with a strategist and experienced politician at the helm of the affairs. In the run up to elections, the opposition got much more consolidated with the emergence of Mahakutami (Grand Alliance).
On the contrary, Prajarajyam party could not garner any electoral allies and had to face the elections on its own. It lost some seats with a narrow margin. It could have won these seats if allies were with it. The party faced an unprecedented media and political bashing. The party leadership was ill equipped to counter this criticism. Electoral allies would have made a difference even in this regard too. The party suffered from serious organizational lapses. There were no political structures. The party failed to penetrate into several sections of society. Instead, it completely depended on the glamour of Chiranjeevi. No doubt, Chiranjeevi is the most popular film actor after NTR in the entire telugu cinema history. This was clearly evident from unprecedented people's reception he got during the election campaign. It could not take peoples issues and chalk out agitational programs. In the absence of political and organizational structures and agitational activity PrajaRajyam could not succeed in converting the popular response Chiranjeevi got into voting. The selection of candidates often made negative headlines in the media and it created an adverse public opinion for the party and exit of key leaders before pole has substantiated it. PrajaRajyam could win a substantial Kapu voting. But, the Kapu factor was both a blessing and curse for the party. Though, the Congress did retain Kapu voting in some areas, Kapus responded positively in favour of PRP. However, the party could get votes from other sections of society. PRP failed to penetrate into minority voting. The two dominant communities in Andhra Pradesh polarized on behalf of the Congress and TDP giving little scope for PRP to penetrate. In many parts of the state the image of PRP as party of Kapus alienated other castes from the party. This was especially so in areas where there is social division between Kapus and other communities. The PRP's slogan of social Justice did not catch the imagination of people. The party did not succeed in operationally defining social justice and explain to people how it would translate into their lives. The migration of leaders from other parties has two different implications for the party in elections. First, it gave the party much needed political character. On the other hand it gave an impression that that the party is not without a difference. It's slogan of 'change' got negated by this phenomenon.
Two burning issues taken up by this actor turned politician personally 1) SEZ policy and 2) Weavers problems were in fact the right catches but could not be substantiated properly by a convincing policy document that reached electorate. There was not much intelligence shown in explaining how the party is going to resolve this perennial problems that has been bothering the state in particular and nation in general.
What should PRP do immediately? It should create an organizational base. It should develop cadre who would convert left over glamorous support into voting. The party should agitate on the people's problems. The party should be built from grassroots level. A coherent political program should be developed so that the party has a clear stand on a wide range of issues. It should identify its political allies. Efforts should be made to ensure that the party will not get any more adverse public opinion. Instead of depending on the migrant political birds, now there is enough time for the party to develop its own leadership. They also have to show enough Maturity level in the assembly, if all this happen the historic opportunity still prevails and who knows which side The Wind Blows?
Vijay Chavva
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