He is an opposition party MLA from Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh with a lot of reputation and respect among the people of his constituency.
He is so popular that the ruling Telugu Desam Party is contemplating fielding a minister against him in 2019 elections to defeat him.
This gentleman, of course known for his short-tempered nature, had to face a strange encounter recently with a woman news anchor of a Telugu television channel which is struggling to survive because of poor viewership.
This news anchor came to the residence of the MLA one fine morning and introduced herself as a senior journalist from Hyderabad.
She presented a bouquet to the MLA and had a friendly chatting for some time, before she got down to the actual business.
The anchor put forth a proposal before the MLA for giving him extensive coverage in the news channel she represents.
As part of the package whose total cost was Rs 50 lakh, the MLA should first pay Rs 10 lakh to the channel. In return, the channel telecasts positive stories pertaining to the MLA continuously till the elections.
The MLA would figure in the news bulletins almost every day and whenever there is an incident, his bytes would be taken.
And of course, there would be series of programmes with him, including interviews, chit-chats, walk with the leader, tea with the leader, dinner with the leader and a day with the leader etc. He would get the top priority in every programme.
Even before the anchor finished explaining the proposal, the MLA lost his cool and shouted at her.
“Get lost from here first,” he yelled. The anchor who did not expect such a harsh reaction from the MLA, quietly disappeared from the scene.
Interestingly, the anchor along with the local reporter is learnt to have touched almost all the MLAs in Nellore district and presented them with bouquets, before putting forth a similar proposal. It is not exactly known how many of them had responded to her proposal positively.
Though it is not uncommon for reporters, under pressure from the managements, approach politicians for advertisements and paid news during the election season.
Most of the contestants oblige their requests because they, too, need publicity during the elections. However, it is perhaps new to the opposition MLA to see a television news anchor directly bargaining with him for a Rs 50 lakh deal.
And what is worse, it is not even a reputed channel, but the one which figures at the bottom of the list of the channels in terms of TRP ratings!
