New Delhi: "Andhra Pradesh is my Janambhoomi (motherland) and Uttar Pradesh will be my Karambhoomi (workplace)," said cine star Jaya Prada, after her candidature for the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh was announced today (Mar 22, 2004).

"I will be a loyal worker of the party and contribute towards the development of the country and the people of UP," Jaya Prada, who switched "cycles" from TDP (Telugu Desam Party) to Samajwadi Party (SP), said adding, "I hope the people of UP will accept my service."

Referring to SP general secretary Amar Singh as her "leader", the former TDP Rajya Sabha member, who was once considered close to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, described her new party as the only one, which was "truly secular" and "not casteist".

Dismissing suggestion that she would prove to be a "lame duck" candidate in Rampur, the constituency which has the highest percentage of Muslim votes in the country outside Kashmir, and has earlier elected Congress' Begum Noor Bano and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) general secretary and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the past, Amar Singh said all the four MLAs (Members of Legislative assembly) in the Lok Sabha constituency belonged to Samajwadi Party.

"They will ensure victory for her," he said of the cine star's electoral prospects in Rampur.