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Vajpayee steals the show as BJP unleashes star power

Sunil Kumar in Hyderabad

The Bharatiya Janata Party had lined up a battery of stars to steal Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's thunder.

But the 'star of stars' -- as film star and the BJP's Kakinada candidate Krishnam Raju described the party's prime ministerial nominee Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- stole the show.

Addressing a rally in Hyderabad at the weekend in the presence of film stars Mohan Babu, Giri Babu, Gautami, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Krishnam Raju, the former prime minister made several promises -- reservations for women in Parliament and state assemblies, free education for girls up to the degree level and crop insurance for farmers.

If Vajpayee blasted his 'national enemies', Mohan Babu, who has pledged 'outside support' to the BJP after his removal from the Telugu Desam Party, poured vitriol on his local bete noire Chandrababu Naidu.

Walking in his late mentor N T Rama Rao's footsteps with crowd-swaying histrionics, Mohan Babu tried in vain to make up for superstar Vijayshanti's absence at the rally.

"He misled us into backstabbing N T Rama Rao,'' Mohan Babu went hammer and tongs at Chandrababu Naidu. ''Having used us, he started making millions of rupees. Don't trust Naidu -- he follows the 'use-and-throw' policy.''

His wild allegations left the crowd guessing. "Who was Jaya Prada? When did she join the TDP and why was she made a Rajya Sabha member when there were several other women who had sacrificed so much to build the party?" Mohan Babu asked.

The star also criticised comedian Brahmanandam who took the BJP to task in a TDP video film. "When I asked them why they did so, my colleagues said they received huge sums of money from Chandrababu Naidu."

Well-known lyricist Veturi Sundararamurthy also joined the BJP in Vajpayee's presence. A party audio cassette, based on Veturi's lyrics, was released by Vajpayee.

Referring to the BJP's stint at the Centre, Vajpayee explained why his government could not survive more than 13 days. "Aisa nahi tha ki bazaar me maal nahin tha. Magar kharidnevale nahe the, (many MPs were willing to be bought but the BJP was not interested)."

"If I wanted to I could have consolidated my position, using P V Narasimha Rao's tactics of buying MPs, but the BJP is not like Narasimha Rao," he said, adding that he had never compromised on principles right from the time he got elected to Parliament in 1957.

Photographs by P Anil Kumar

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