Telugu cine idol Chiranjeevi will step into the hectic world of electioneering to campaign for his friend and film producer Ashwini Dutt, a member of Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Dutt is contesting from the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency for the elections on April 20 and 26.

The popular actor, however, clarified that the campaign would be above politics and was only meant to help his friend get elected.

All major political parties in the state have tried to woo Chiranjeevi, who has a tremendous fan following across the state, but the star had kept away from politics.

There had been intense speculation that the 49-year-old actor would follow his Bollywood colleagues and join politics. But he set the matter at rest a few months ago by stating that he had no intention to join or launch a party.

However, when the ruling TDP nominated Dutt as its candidate for a Lok Sabha seat, Chiranjeevi came forward to campaign for the filmmaker who has produced several of his hit films. Many people believe that it was at the star's behest that Dutt got the TDP ticket.

Chiranjeevi has said his campaign should not be construed as his being close to the TDP or opposed to others. He said he had campaigned for a couple of candidates in the past too.

He will canvass for votes mainly through short films and posters.

Dutt's campaign received a further boost when Chiranjeevi made his brother-in-law and eminent filmmaker Allu Arvind election manager for Dutt's campaign. Another film producer K. L. Narayana was also roped in to fine tune the campaign.

TDP's Gadde Ram Mohan, who is contesting from the Kankipadu assembly segment in Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency, is hoping that Chiranjeevi's magic rubs off on him too.