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ELECTIONS '96

Stars crash to earth in south India

When stars descend on earth, darkness gives way to light, signalling a new dawn and the lotus will bloom.

Quite poetic-sounding, that. Especially, if it is Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate and orator remarkable, who is doing the speaking.

His prophecy, unfortunately, appears to have been nothing but rhetoric. In the south, where he made the flourishy speech, the voters proved themselves independent of the influence of stars -- or rather, film stars. Thus, of the eight cine celebrities of the past and present who tried their luck in the Lok Sabha hustings, only three made the grade.

The star-winners are Ramarajan, Ambaresh and Krishnam Raju. Ramarajan had the satisfaction of a 'giant kill' as he humbled Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Dhanushkodi Athithan in the Tiruchendur constituency of Tamil Nadu.

Of the three Janata Dal nominees in Karnataka who emerged victorious, rebel star Ambaresh romped home from Mandya.

For the BJP, Telugu film star Krishnam Raju made his political debut winning from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

The stars who crashed to the earth are macho hero Sarath Kumar (Tirunelveli-TN), Kaikala Satyanarayana (Machilipatnam- AP), Latha (Dindigul-TN) Urvashi Sarada (Tenali- AP) and Jayanthi (Chikaballapur-Karnataka).

Sarada and K Satyanarayana failed to retain their seats this time.

UNI

Elections '98

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