Balaiah’s remarks cause ripples in TDP

VV Balakrishna 26 Dec 2008 04:04:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: It is ‘star trouble’ in Telugu Desam Party. It seems heroes from NTR family are causing troubles to party Chief N Chandrababu Naidu.It was Balakrishna, the star campaigner for the party in the next elections, who created embarrassment to Naidu by saying that if people wanted him to become the chief minister, he would become one. This statement caused much discomfiture to TDP leaders.Notwithstanding Balaiah’s assertion, the TDP leaders maintained that Balakrishna was not that ambitious and recalled his statement at Yuva Garjana in Guntur that his aim was to see Naidu as the chief minister.Balakrishna might have talked of Chief Minister’s post only after he was grilled by reporters, they maintained.Speaking to reporters here Thursday, party leader E Dayakar Rao said that there was no doubt that Naidu would become the Chief Minister.Balakrishna too decided to campaign for the party only to make Naidu as Chief Minister.Interestingly, Balakrishna is not member of the TDP though he had been campaigning for the party since NTR launched the party.Taraka Ratna, another hero of NTR family, is also causing embarrassment to Naidu by repeatedly saying that Balakrishna should become the Chief Minister, if TDP was voted to power. However, he was calmed down by the family members. Tarak, later, amended his statement by saying that he only said that Balakrishna would be the future Chief Ministerial candidate and Naidu would be the next Chief Minister.Tarak, however, was creating troubles to party leadership. A realtor, who joined the party recently in Nizamabad district, invited Tarak to unveil NTR statue in Bodhan. The realtor was an aspirant of TDP ticket.However, his opponents, reportedly called up Naidu and informed him about the development. According to sources, Naidu asked Tarak not to unveil the statue and cancel his scheduled visit to Bodhan. Tarak assured Naidu that his tour would be limited to Ayyappa puja organised by the local leaders. Meanwhile, NTR Jr too caused some embarrassment to party leaders by skipping the Yuva Garjana meeting.Balakrishna may launch his campaign after Sankranti and tour the state for a month. NTR Jr too would campaign for the party before elections, a party leader said.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com