Actor-politician had to skip rally with Siddaramaiah as his brother was in hospital
Actor-politician had to skip rally with Siddaramaiah as his brother was in hospital
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The much-looked-forward-to Chiranjeevi-Siddaramaiah rally lost its star shine on D-day.
Pavana Kalyan, who is also president of Prajarajyam's youth wing, was addressing a public gathering near Hyderabad on Wednesday. He was electrocuted when a live wire fell on him and had to be hospitalised immediately. Doctors said he was out danger.
Chiranjeevi, who had launched his political outfitu00a0 Prajarajyam recently, was to share the dais with Siddaramaiah at the rally held at Nizamuddin Grounds where two lakh people, mostly from the Kuruba community in Andhra, participated. "Chiranjeevi could not participate, but he had sent his message that was read in the rally," said B S Shivanna, a confidant of Siddaramaiah. "People did not feel his absence because of the message," he added.
No Circuit either
As Chiranjeevi could not make it, his actor-follower Srikant was also absent. The popular hero had played Circuit to Chiranjeevi in the Telugu version of Munnabhai. In real life too, Srikant is known to be an ardent supporter of the mega star. He followed the leader to hospital.
According to the original plan, Srikant was to translate Siddaramaiah's speech from Kannada to Telugu. He was specially chosen for the job because he is a Kannadiga from Bellary.
Siddaramaiah had to manage his speech without a translator. However, his Kannada did not prove a deterrent in winning over the audience and the enthusiastic response was testimony to that.
No translator
"Siddaramaiah spoke in Kannada and the audience received him well," said Shivanna. "The language was no barrier and the leader's concern foru00a0 the backward classes was well-appreciated."
Former union minister C M Ibrahim addressed the rally in Urdu, while Andhra chief minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu shared their views.
Minister Varthur Prakash and former minister H M Revanna participated in the rally. Both are Kuruba leaders from Karnataka.
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