At an interaction with the public in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati on Friday, February 24, Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s general secretary Nara Lokesh said that he would welcome actor Junior NTR into politics. Both Lokesh and Jr NTR are grandsons of legendary actor and politician NT Rama Rao, who founded the TDP in 1982. Incidentally both the grandsons were born a year later. Lokesh’s statement comes ahead of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, which will be held next year.
Jr NTR met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Hyderabad in August last year. Though the BJP maintained that it was purely a ‘courtesy’ visit, the meeting sparked speculations in political circles that the BJP wanted to woo the actor ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections.
Lokesh and Jr NTR are first cousins, sons of siblings Nara Bhuvaneswari and Harikrishna respectively. Lokesh is a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and his father Chandrababu Naidu is the Opposition leader. Jr NTR – alias Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao – has so far stuck to being an actor, winning acclaim for performances in films like Janatha Garage and RRR.
On Friday, Lokesh said in response to a question that those with a good heart, like Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan who heads the Jana Sena Party, should enter politics. He would welcome anyone – “a film star, educationist or industrialist” – who wanted to bring good governance, the New Indian Express quoted Lokesh as saying.
His “invitation” apparently angered members of the rival Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), who questioned Lokesh’s authority in welcoming Jr NTR to the TDP, when TDP was launched by the actor’s grandfather, the senior NTR.
Jr NTR had campaigned for the TDP in 2009, and had spoken up in support of his uncle and aunt (Naidu and Bhuvaneswari) when there was a row in the Andhra Assembly with YSRCP leaders.