Date:09/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/04/09/stories/2005040910290400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Still a Telugu at heart: Jayaprada

By Our Staff Reporter

CARING TOUCH: Samajwadi Party MP, Jayaprada, fondly looks at a child at Goddess Kankadurga temple atop Indrakeeladri hill in Vijayawada on Friday. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

VIJAYAWADA, MARCH 8. Film actress and Samajwadi Party MP, Jayaprada, has expressed her willingness to work for the development and empowerment of women in Andhra Pradesh if the State Government permits her to do so. Ms. Jayaprada was here on Friday to offer prayers to goddess Kanakadurga along with her family members and the Tanzania High Commissioner, Nazarra, who is her friend.

The Executive Officer, E. Gopalakrishna Reddy, received the MP from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh with temple honours. Ms. Jayaprada said she had come here in fulfilment of a vow. In an informal chat with reporters later, Ms. Jayaprada said, " People of Rampur have no doubt accepted me as their daughter, but this has no made no difference to the special relationship I enjoy with people of Andhra Pradesh," She would also take up a campaign to strengthen the base of the Samajwadi Party in the South.

Ms. Jayaprada's visit created a stir among devotes and mediapersons.