NT Rama Rao’s Heirs Dictate Terms To Chandrababu Naidu, Seek Tickets For Their Favourites Hyderabad: He wanted them to be his heroes, but they are threatening to play villains. Roped in by Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu in the run up to the polls to counter the popularity of Prajarajyam president Chiranjeevi, the filmstar clan of the NTR family are extracting their pound of flesh in order to play box-office roles for Naidu. In the latest episode, N Harikrishna – -NTR’s elder son and Naidu’s brother-in -law – wants the Gannavaram Assembly ticket in Krishna district to be given to I Balavardhan Rao but his son Junior NTR is playing spoilsport. He wants the same party ticket for Valabhaneni Vamsi Mohan. Balavardhan Rao runs a few educational institutions all over the state and is said to be a close friend of Harikrishna, and Vamsi Mohan is a producer who is making his first film with Junior NTR in the lead role. For Naidu, things have taken a serious turn with Junior NTR refusing to attend the TDP Yuvagarjana — targeted at young voters– in Guntur on November 5 in protest against the TDP chief not promising the Gannavaram ticket to his nominee. According to sources, in order to put pressure on Naidu, Junior NTR has ‘deliberately’ booked film shooting dates with Vamsi Mohan from October 24 to November 5, thereby hinting that he would not be available for the Guntur rally. Junior NTR is so called because of his facial likeness to the original NTR. And it is because of this reason that Naidu wants to press the junior into action to evoke memories of NTR. In order to stem the crisis within, the TDP chief held a breakfast meeting with Junior NTR in his residence on Wednesday and has promised him that the problem would be sorted out. Analysts say that losing Junior NTR, who is believed to have a good support in the coastal region, would be a big blow for Naidu, especially from the point of view of countering Chiranjeevi. In fact, so far, the NTR clan has posed problems for Naidu rather than being his troubleshooters. While Naidu’s ‘sambandi’ cum brother-in-law Balakrishna has maintained a stoic silence and is reported to go all out to make the Guntur rally a success, the others have been sailing in different directions. Jayakrishna’s son Tarakaratna, also a Tollywood star, has been campaigning for the TDP, but has been making overt and subtle suggestions that he would prefer to see his uncle Balakrishna as the next TDP chief minister. Amidst this, comes the latest salvo from Junior NTR and Harikrishna who want to garner the Gannavaram ticket for themselves. Vamsi is said to be a follower of slain TDP leader Paritala Ravindra and a close friend of Kodali Nani, film producer and Gudivada MLA, and Junior NTR had campaigned for Nani in the last elections. On the other hand, to make matters difficult for Chandrababu Naidu, Harikrishna has reportedly directed his son and another Tollywood star Kalyan Ram to project Balavardhan Rao as the TDP nominee from the Gannavaram Assembly constituency. Despite the breakfast meeting with Junior NTR, Naidu is now banking on Balakrishna to rally the NTR clan behind him. Naidu loyalists are now wondering whether Chiranjeevi would be the TDP chief’s nemesis, or whether it would be the family members whom he dragged into politics to counter Chiru. Courtesy: TimesOfIndia
