Star ‘power’ proves to be ballot buster

Be it ‘Legend’ theme music or ‘Okade okkadu monagadu’ from ‘Muthu’ or for that matter ‘Vooru manadira ee nela manadira’ from ‘Erra Sanyam’, regional electronic media channels on Friday used the filmi foot-tapping numbers to the greatest effect, in view of TRS and TDP’s historic win in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively. Film music aside for a minute, star power proved to be a decisive factor in Friday’s results, with Power Star Pawan Kalyan walking away with top laurels. Here’s a look at stars who used their star power to the maximum effect:

‘Power’ factor

Though he had little time, the Jana Sena chief who endorsed the BJP-TDP alliance campaigned vociferously across crucial constituencies in both the regions and played a decisive role in the win of TDP-BJP candidates like Talasani Srinivas Yadav (Sanath Nagar assembly), Chintala Rama Chandra Reddy (Khairtabad assembly), Errabelli Dayakaro Rao (Palakurthy assembly), M Gopinath (Jubilee hills assembly), Bandaru Dattareya (Secunderabad parliament), Murali Mohan (Rajahmundry parliament) and Ghanta Srinivas Rao (Bheemili assembly). Victories of Srinivas Yadav, Rama Chandra Reddy and Gopinath hold prominence as they won against union minister Sashidar Reddy, former state minister Danam Nagendar and Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, son of popular leader late P Janardhan Reddy,.

NBK romps home

Riding high on the success of ‘Legend’, Nandamuri Balakrishna, who finally decided to contest polls from the TDP bastion Hindupur, won the seat hands down. While the Superstar couldn’t devote much campaigning time to the place after filing his nomination, his family members- wife Vasundhara, daughter Tejaswini and son-in-law - Sri Bharat - campaigned door to door and ensured that they played their part. Balayya romped home with a majority of 17,000 votes.

Varevva Babu

Senior comedian and former social welfare minister in the TDP government, Babu Mohan did the unthinkable. Denied a ticket by TDP, the comedian who joined TRS in the last minute managed to triumph over former deputy CM of AP, Damodar Raja Narasimha, from the Andole constituency of Medak. Call it the Telangana sentiment or the charisma of TRS chief K Chandrasekar Rao, defeating a deputy CM, who played his part in the formation of Telangana, is definitely not a cakewalk, right?

Ghattamaneni family to Galla’s rescue

Managing director of the Rs 3,500 crore Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, Galla Jayadev had little experience on the political field, but the support he garnered from the Krishna family, especially from brother-in-law Mahesh Babu, who went out of his way and supported Galla’s candidature via social media, paid rich dividends to the businessman-turned-leader. The new entrant won the high-profile Guntur Lok Sabha constituency with a comfortable margin over his strong opponent Vallabhaneni Balashowry, the YSR Congress candidate.

Roja on her own

Losing the Nagari seat twice in the past, Roja meant business this time around. And she finally realised her dream of finding foothold in the heavily Tamil speaking belt of southern tip of Andhra Pradesh. Representing YSRCP this time around, the actress-turned-politician defeated TDP strongman Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu by a slender margin of 1,000 votes. A look at her emotional victory speech tells what the win meant to her.