Former Indian cricket captain Mohd. Azharuddin, film star Nagma and others from the glamour field associated with the Congress will soon join the election campaign as the party is all set to up the ante against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as the election date draws close.
Mr. Azaharuddin will not be limited to areas where minority voters are more but also other segments given his popularity as a cricketer and later as a politician, said Campaign Committee chairman Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Film star Vijayashanti, who is appointed as the star campaigner by the party, has already toured erstwhile Mahabubnagar district drawing huge crowds.
In fact, Nagma campaigned for the Congress party in 2004 Assembly elections when Congress party came to power apart from few other States. “It is not just the glamour quotient that the party is looking at,” Mr. Vikramarka clarifies and says they are highly recognisable faces and also not in the electoral fray with ample time for campaigning.
Bus yatra
Cricketer Azharuddin has been a member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh but has campaigned in Telangana earlier. In fact, the bus yatra started by the Congress under the leadership of TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy last year also saw him addressing a couple of meetings. Mr. Reddy also welcomed him to contest from any seat in Telangana.
The party leaders also claim that several film stars, including some top stars are convinced with the party’s argument that the ruling party should go but are ‘afraid’ of the consequences they might face from the TRS leaders to come out openly and campaign for the party. “This shows in what fear people are living in Telangana,” claimed a senior leader.
Gaddar’s programme
Mr. Vikramarka has also planned some 20 meetings with balladeer Gaddar, who has a large following in Telangana given his revolutionary background.
“A special programme has been designed wherein Mr. Gaddar will present a ballad highlighting the ‘cheating’ and ‘misgovernance’ of caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao that pushed Telangana into debt and suppressed the voice of everyone,” says Mr. Vikramarka.
“The emotional ballad will leave everyone in tears and I have seen women moved by the ballad and started weeping at the programme itself,” he added.
