The meeting of popular Tollywood hero Jr NTR with Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday last evoked a lot of curiosity in the political circles in Andhra Pradesh.
Almost all the parties, including the ruling YSR Congress party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and even the Communist parties have reacted over the meeting, describing it as politically significant.
YSRC leaders like former minister Kodali Nani went a step ahead and suggested that it is better Jr NTR returns to active politics and take control of the Telugu Desam Party, since party president N Chandrababu Naidu has lost his credibility and image among the public.
Nani even said the BJP, which has no faith over Naidu, is trying to woo Jr NTR into the party fold and Shah’s meeting should be viewed in that angle.
On Wednesday, YSRC leader and Telugu Academy chairperson Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi, too, made the same suggestion – that Jr NTR should take over the TDP from Naidu. She extended her best wishes to the young hero.
Interestingly, there have been no comments from the TDP on Shah-Jr NTR meeting. In fact, there were reports initially that Chandrababu Naidu would be meeting Shah at Ramoji Film City, but it did not happen. Instead, Shah called Jr NTR for a meeting which went on for about an hour.
According to the TDP sources, Naidu has asked his party leaders not to make any comments about Shah-NTR meeting, since it will unnecessarily kick up a controversy and it will give a scope for the YSRCP to make unnecessary comments.
It may be mentioned that Naidu had been under tremendous pressure from a section of the TDP leaders and cadre to bring Jr NTR back into the party activities.
There were posters even in Kuppam during Naidu’s meeting last year. Similar demands were raised even at Naidu’s meeting in Hyderabad.
But Naidu, who is keen on promoting his son Lokesh as the heir apparent, feels Jr NTR would be a threat to his son. That is why he has been avoiding any such talk about the actor.
At the same time, Jr NTR too is not a hurry to get into the TDP politics and is said to be waiting for Lokesh to prove himself a big failure.
It is not immediately known what sort of offer Shah had made to Jr NTR and what the actor’s response was. But it is unlikely that he would join the BJP, which is no big force in Andhra. If Shah wants NTR help in Telangana, it is a different issue!
