Women rain flowers on Chiru

MANGALAGIRI (GUNTUR): Braving the scorching sun, women in this temple town in Guntur district on Monday waited patiently for over five hours as
they lined up on rooftops and street corners to have a glimpse of their matinee idol Chiranjeevi. Well, no one complained about the long wait. Their agonising ordeal ended around 2.30 pm when the Prajarajyam party chief's convoy entered the town. Then in a cinematic style, the women, irrespective of age, rose on their toes to rain flowers on their hero in the temple street.

An overwhelmed Chiranjeevi said: "How can I repay your gratitude? Except for bowing my head in front of you." The traffic on the national highway too came to a grinding halt for over two hours as it took a long time for Chiranjeevi's convoy to enter the town from the helipad, located aside of the highway.

Amidst loud cheering and noisy sloganeering that rented the air for quite a while, the PRP president laid focus on issues relevant to women, as he promised to provide the entire provisions for a family for Rs 100 if his party is elected to power.

"We will reduce the power tariff by 50 per cent to the rural domestic consumers in order to lessen the burden on the women," he said. Lashing out at the main political players in the state, Chiranjeevi blamed both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party for the ills plaguing the commoners' lives.

"Both the parties have encouraged the rich and scamsters at the cost of the poor people," he said. Highlighting the problems of handloom weavers in the town which has a sizeable weavers' population, Chiranjeevi recalled that he had first visited the handloom town of Sircilla after launching the PRP.

He said the Congress and the TDP were equally responsible for the suicides of the weavers. "We will sanction free power to all the artisans, including weavers," he declared while the crowds clapped non-stop. The massive response of the crowd even delayed his convoy to move ahead in the small streets of the town.

"We have waited since morning for him. He (Chiru) has promised to take care of all our problems," said a beaming Meerabi in Ratham Centre. As the convoy sped past her, Dalit woman Saramma vowed to vote for Chiranjeevi as she alleged that the Congress government has refused to allow a pucca house for her. Curiously, she was seen enquiring about the election symbol of Chiranjeevi's party with the youth dancing and jumping ahead of Chiru's vehicle.

Though the streets wore a deserted look in the morning, they were jampacked by noon. Chiranjeevi would be in the district for next four days as part of his Praja Ankitha Yatra where he would touch almost 15 assembly segments of the total 17 constituencies.