Nagarjuna Akkineni endorses Cong. schemes

DESARAJU SURYA

Hyderabad: In what is seen as a "prized catch," the Congress party has succeeded in enlisting the services of Telugu film star Akkineni Nagarjuna for canvassing the Andhra Pradesh government schemes. Nagarjuna has been propagating the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government's pet schemes like the Indiramma housing, Arogya Sri health insurance, scholarships to students, old age pensions and also the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. "The numerous welfare and development schemes initiated by our government have attracted everyone not only in the state but also in the country. Nagarjuna too was impressed by the schemes and 'volunteered' to take part in the campaign for creating more awareness in the people," state Congress general secretary and MLA Nadendla Manohar said. The film commercials are currently being aired on television news channels through the state information and public relations department. This visual campaign will run till the AP Assembly elections, due in the first quarter of 2009. Asked if Nagarjuna has agreed to campaign for the party in other forms, Manohar said there was no such commitment from the former. "Nagarjuna's endorsement certainly adds value to our campaign," he said. Son of doyen of Telugu films Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna is a star in his own right and commands equal fan following like that of Chiranjeevi and Nandamuri Balakrishna. While Chiranjeevi launched his own Praja Rajyam Party, Balakrishna will be the star campaigner for the Telugu Desam Party in the 2009 elections. Though film personalities like Krishna, Rajasekhar, Jeevita, Srihari and Jayasudha have pledged support for the Congress and are getting ready to campaign, Nagarjuna's campaign will give the much-needed "star power" for the ruling party as he wields more clout than others. Nagarjuna asserted many a time that he's not interested in politics and would not join any party. He used to campaign on educative themes like enrolment of voters, voting rights and also against criminalisation of politics in short films produced by Lok Satta, a voluntary organisation that later transformed into a political party. Nagarjuna's actress-wife Amala is an animal rights activist and also a campaigner against global warming.