Political plunge: Chiranjeevi inaugurates party office

Hyderabad: The dust has settled on whether Chiranjeevi, the Telugu superstar will take a political plunge or not.

Chiranjeevi has already opened his party office in Hyderabad in the early hours of Monday, August 11.

"We have opened our party office today but we have not launched the party yet.

We will announce the date of the launch in a few days," promised Chiranjeevi.

Chiranjeevi is expected to officially announce the name of his party and its agenda on August 15.

The other likely date for the announcement is August 22, the birthday of the superstar.

It is speculated that Chiranjeevi may hold a massive public meeting in the temple town of Tirupati to make the formal launch.

The assembly elections for Andhra Pradesh are due in March next year and the actor is already being compared with another successful actor turned politician of yesteryears.

Telugu cinema’s thespian N.T. Rama Rao's political entry in 1982 had also helped him clinch the chief ministership of the state within nine months of launching his Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Though media had been shut out from the inauguration function of Chiranjeevi’s posh office built in the up market Jubilee Hills neighbourhood, fans gathered as soon as word spread around.

Dancing in gay abandon, they raised slogans and expressed their confidence that their hero would be the next chief minister.

Apart from the actor's immediate family and relatives, rebel Congress MP Hariram Jogaiah and former minister K. Vidyadhar Rao, who was expelled from the TDP recently, also attended the function.

Of late, Jogaiah and Rao had earned the ire of their leadership by openly supporting Chiranjeevi.

Cheeranjivi defended the secrecy about the function which was a Vedic ceremony amidst sacred chants.

"Now, nothing will remain secret," declared the actor, who has been ruling the Telugu film industry for over two decades.

"The party will be launched before the end of this month. We will announce the date, venue, party name in a couple of days," the popular actor offered.

"I know the people's pulse - they are waiting for me to announce the launch of my party," said the 53-year-old actor, who enjoys a huge fan following in the state.

Chiranjeevi is likely to undertake a state-wide tour on a special chariot. State assembly elections are due March next year.

(With inputs from IANS)