When Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah drove all the way to Ramoji Film City on July 13 evening to call on media baron Ch Ramoji Rao, it led to several speculations.
Though officially, Shah had met Ramoji as part of his Sampark Se Samarthan programme wherein he sought the support of the latter to the BJP in the next elections, there was also a talk that Shah had sought Ramoji’s intervention in reining in Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who had parted ways with the BJP for his own political reasons.
He reportedly told Ramoji to see that Naidu would come back to the NDA fold at least after the elections, since the TDP is all said and done a strong regional party that might come to the BJP help in the event of the latter falling short of majority.
The latest reports say while seeking Ramoji Rao’s support to the BJP, Shah came up with offer the media moghul.
He said if Ramoji agreed, the Centre would nominate him to Rajya Sabha through President.
It has been customary that the President would nominate four eminent persons in various fields to Rajya Sabha recognising their services to the nation, like Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Mrinalini Sarabhai etc.
From the Telugu states, such an honour was given only to famous lyricist later C Narayana Reddy. So, Shah offered such an honour to Ramoji Rao this time.
However, the media baron reportedly rejected the offer. He told him that he had got a similar offer in the past, too, but he always stayed away from such positions.
“What stand our media takes will be revealed during the elections. We are not against any political party, let alone BJP. So, I don’t want to get any political stigma attached to me,” Ramoji reportedly told Shah.
