The observations made by Nandamuri Balakrishna, cine hero and son of late N T Rama Rao, on the Telugu Desam party (TDP) affairs and his assertion about his entry into politics, has become a topic of intense debate in the political circles of the State, and more so among the TDP leaders and workers.
Balakrishna, popularly known as Balayya, has created a flutter on Saturday by stating that he would plunge into active politics shortly, there would be no problem about the Party’s leadership issue and the chief ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections would be none other than Nara Chandrababu Naidu, TDP president and former chief minister. He also said that he would strive to strengthen the party by all means, and accept any position offered to him in the party.
These statements of Balakrishna were being interpreted in different ways by the party leaders. Though Balayya has stated that there were no differences in the Nandamuri family and all of them were united, it is a known fact that actor Harikrishna, the elder son of late NT Rama Rao, and also NTR Jr were having reservations on the style of functioning of Chandrababu Naidu. Harikrishna had never minced matters and he openly criticized Chandrababu Naidu, on more than one occasion, for giving party tickets to industrialists and crorepathis, in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections.
Many of the senior leaders are distancing themselves from the TDP of late only because of Naidu’s attitude in selection of nominees for the Upper Houses. They are of the view that Naidu was ignoring the senior leaders, who were loyal to the party through thick and thin, and promoting industrialists and rich people for obvious reasons, and this is bound to do great damage to the party.
Party leaders were also divided on the impact that could be created by Balayya among the people and his efficiency to strengthen the TDP and help Naidu to become chief minister. A section of the TDP leaders are of the opinion that Naidu has roped in Balayya only to counter NTR Jr and Harikrishna.
Some leaders feel that Balayya had proved a failure in the films and the same would be the case in politics, and he would not be able to enlist the support of the people in favour of TDP and its leader. They point out that Balayya had campaigned for the party in the last elections and also in some of the by-elections, but it had not shown any impact on the party. Similarly, the entry of Naidu’s son Lokesh into politics would not make much difference for the TDP, they feel.
These leaders are also of the view that any amount of promises being doled out by Naidu about allotment of 100 Assembly seats to Backward Classes, unemployment allowance and so on would not work, as the people were fully aware of his nature of making promises and forgetting them once he comes to power. All said and done, only time will tell how far the entry of Balayya and the promises of Naidu would work in favour of TDP.
