Despite all the media talk that tried to belittle the image of mega star and PRP chief Chiranjeevi following the debacle of the congress party candidates in the by elections to the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat and Pulivendula assembly seat, the hero-turned-politician continues to hold his sway among the masses.

It must be noted that by elections or even for that matter the assembly elections too will never take away a leader’s image permanently. We have examples of this in the legendary actor NTR and Jayalalitha who led their parties to thumping victories after losing them once.

It is true that the mega star campaigned for a few days for the congress party candidates in the by elections challenging the supremacy of the YSR Congress party in its own citadel. The greatness of Chiranjeevi, who has certainly had a great transformation to maturity from the days of his political initiation, lies in his frankness in hitting out at political opponents, in this case YS Jaganmohan reddy.

No doubt congress expected to turn the tide of the estimated 1.3 lakh Balija voters towards the congress in the by elections but it never expected to win with their exclusive votes. A victory would never be a possibility only with the voters of the Balija community in such a situation where the Reddy community people rule the roost for all practical purposes.

Congress candidate DL Ravindra Reddy was polled nearly 1.45 lakh votes which surely included the votes of the Balija community which is the equivalent of the Kapu community in the coastal Andhra to which the mega star belongs. Can any section of the media deny the fact that the congress candidate DL would not have got even the 1.4 lakh votes he was polled if the mega star never undertook his tour in the YSR citadel which is now the YS Jagan forte fully fenced by money power.

Chiranjeevi must be appreciated for having dared to tour in the citadel of the late YSR who never allowed any one to grow in the district. In fact, late YSR always ensured the marginalization of the Balija community in the district while he propped up his affluent Reddy community people.

Candidates of both Congress and TDP are from the Reddy community while the YSR congress chief Jagan is also from the same community. In such a situation, the majority of the Reddy voters of the district preferred a better Reddy community leader among the three contesting candidates. The Reddys voted for Jagan as they thought he was the best among the three contesting Reddys.

If congress wanted to win with Balija votes, it would have fielded a Balija candidate. The congress leadership thought of winning the election with a Reddy candidate but then Reddy voters ditched the party, not the Balija voters.

At the instance of the congress high command, Chiru did his best on his part to influence the Balija voters in the constituency and did it completely and successfully. The victory of the YSR Congress in the by elections will neither take away the charisma and heroism of the mega star nor improve the corrupt image of Jagan who won with massive majority.

The days ahead will prove that Chiru will make a repeat of Jaya and NTR. Jagan of course will remind us of another Lalu Prasad Yadav who is not remembered by any one now in any corner of the country.