She is titled 'Sahaja Nati' of Tollywood. Now she has a new tag line ' Secunderabad MLA'. 200 movie old Jayasudha Kapoor who created a record of the sorts by becoming the first Tollywood actress to be the MLA from the city is overwhelmed with joy about her new stint as MLA. Won on three time MLA and former Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Jayasudha attributes her success to her clean image.
"I don't have a bad image. In the 37 years of my film career, I have never been controversial.Even in my election campaign, I never spoke bad about anyone. I kept my speeches short. I didn't have to tell voters about the government programmes. The welfare schemes have reached most of them and they used to read out the programmes to me when I went for campaign. Also people found a different leader in me. I have helped more than 40 families through my TV show. I have been doing charity work through my own foundation.All these helped me win" Jayasudha says, even as visitors throng her residence with flowers to congragulate her.
When asked her about the analysis of political pundits that Congress has cleverly fielded her from Secunderabad where the Christian population is huge, she agrees, "I am a Christian.There are more than 30,000 Christian voters in Secunderabad constituency. So, may be Cheif Minister thought I could give my opponents tough competetion if fielded here. I don't like to talk about religion. If the leader has no credibility, irrespective of which religion they hail from, people will not accept them. Most Christians in Secunderabad know me and have seen my charity work. Muslims also voted for our party. Christians, Muslims and Women voters saw me through the elections" Critics vouched that she would lose the elections as she was illusioned with the stardom and that she refused to become a mass leader.
Jayasudha rubbishes the critics and challenges to prove them wrong. "There is nothing impossible. I have come from the film industry. I won the elections. It isn't correct to say that I have not mingled with people. If Talasani Srinivas Yadav walks on the street, no one will come. But if Jayasudha walks, thousands of people come to see me which makes it difficult for me to walk on the roads like other candidates. There were internal fights in our own party. I had to manage them and sort out the issues.So I didn't have much time" she quips.
Jayasudha has been playing charecters like Hero's mother, aunt and elederly roles. Now that she is MLA, Secunderabad, she plans to quit acting."I wanted to stop my acting career for a long time now. The roles I was getting were also not very satisifactory.My fans are also middle aged group who want me to concentrate on public welfare than acting in movies. Now that I am an MLA, I have to focus on my constituency. I will not act in movies anymore" she confirms. Reasons apart, now that she won, when does she plan to start working for the people of her constituency?
"I will soon start my office in Secunderabad constituency for the people to walk in and tell me their problems. Once the swearing in ceremony is over and the goverment is formed, I will start focusing on problems. I will firstly take up the drinage and lack of drinking water problems in my constituency. There are slums like Addagutta and Manikeshwarnagar from where women asked me for house. So I will do my best to get houses sanctioned for them. I will ask local leaders to give me their problems in written. I will solve them one after the other" she promises in a true neta style.
Ask her on why her other Tollywood friends failed to win the elections, she says" It depends on their opponent. If the candidate they are constesting against is a hardworker who has been doing good work there with a clean track record, it is natural that stars lose"
Now that she has become MLA, what are her chances of becoming a Minister? "There are already rumours doing the rounds that I am being given Social, Women and Child welfare Ministry. I was surprised. If they give me a Ministry I will certainly take it up. It is upto the party to decide that. In whichever way, I wanted to be closer to people and serve them"
This 50 year old actress now plans to stay permanently in Secunderabad. She dismisses criticism on her that she would shift back to her Gachibowli residence now that she won the elections. "I am currently staying in Marredpally. I am looking for someother place in this constituency itself to reside as this is an apartment and my stay might disturb the other residents. Since my office will be here in the constituency, people can walk in anytime to let us know their problems"
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