BJP lines up star campaigners

Despite his having strayed for a while, the BJP has rewarded the former Union minister, U V Krishnam Raju with the party’s Seemandhra campaign committee chairman’s post.

He is going all out to rope in national leaders and tinsel celebrities for campaign purposes.

Kota Srinivasa Rao, Bhanuchander, Suresh, Sharat Babu, Sivaji Raja, Jeevitha and Rajasekhar will kick off the campaign in Seemandhra on Sunday.

Talking to The Hans India on Friday, he said Narendra Modi will campaign in Seemandhra for two days and will cover six centres: Tirupati, Rajampet, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Bhimavaram and Narasapur.

“Pawan Kalyan will accompany Modi to all the meetings on these two days. I have urged Pawan Kalyan to allot one extra day so that he could campaign in the remaining constituencies. Rajnath Singh is likely to campaign in four constituencies and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will campaign in one constituency. I will begin my campaigning on April 29,” Raju said.

The veteran actor credits BJP national president Rajnath Singh for his comeback. He said his stint with PRP was a bad phase in his political career.

After quitting the party, he had taken a break from active politics. Krishnamraju said that he knew Rajnath Singh from the days when he was Union minister and both share a good rapport.

Though the actor eyed Kakinada and Narasapur Lok Sabha seats, he says that he is happy to be a team player. Kakinada was given to TDP as a part of seat-sharing and the party had decided to field another candidate from Narasapur. “Being a sincere party worker, I respected the decision,” he said.