Chiranjeevi to pray at Kanchi before party launch

The popular Telugu film actor Chiranjeevi, who is going to launch his political party within the next two weeks, will perform a two-day yagya at Kamakshi temple in the holy city of Kanchi in Tamil Nadu on August 21 and 22 before taking a formal plunge.

Chiranjeevi, along with his wife and son will perform chandi yagya under the patronage of Vedic pandits of the temple. "The yagya will be performed for political power and prosperity," a close confidante of the star told rediff.com.

Fifty pandits of the temple under head priest Natana Shastri will participate in the yagya, which is a rare event, organised only for the VIPs. In the past, such yagyas were organised by former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and late Rajiv Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the Chirarnjeevi camp was discussing the arrangements for his three-month-long statewide yatra, which will start from Tirupati.

Two possible routes were being discussed by the core committee. One will take him from the Tirupati-Nellore route towards coastal Andhra, which will be the main fortress of his party. The second route will take from the Tirupati-Kadapa route to the Rayalaseema region.

The date for Chiranjeevi's first public meeting has not yet been decided. Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law Allu Arvind said that the meeting will be held only after August 20 and the date will be officially announced in the next couple of days.

Two dates -- August 21 and 26 -- were doing the rounds. Some associates were strongly in favour of August 26 as it was the birth anniversary of Mother Teresa. She was among the historical figures who will be the icons of Chiranjeevi's party as it wants to project itself as a "party with humanitarian face and cause".

The other icons of the party will include Dr B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule and former president A P J Abdul Kalam, whose vision of 'Developed India' has inspired the actor.

But even before the launch of Chiranjeevi's party, Allu Arvind has thrown a challenge at powerful state Minister N Raghuveera Reddy.

When he ran in to the minister, Arvind asked the minister to name his constituency and said that Chiranjeevi's party will defeat him. Arvind was unhappy with the minister for his remarks against Chiranjeevi's party in which he had dismissed it as "inconsequential".

However, the minister's reply stunned Arvind. "Please field a strong candidate against me. The Telugu Desam Party will also field a candidate. The anti-Congress vote will be divided and I will have a cakewalk."