Hyderabad, Sept. 21: It is Balakrishna time in the Telugu Desam. The actor has now started calling the shots in the party which was founded by his father NTR. Some leaders who are close to the TD president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, are not happy with the actor’s direct involvement in the party activities. But the actor seems to be unstoppable with the support of entire NTR family. After his appearance at the Basava Tarakam Cancer Hospital, the star has made it clear to the party cadre that he meant business.
Later, Balakrishna started talking to leaders enquiring about the party’s position in their areas. Former ministers started thronging his residence with reports on their districts. The Telugu Yuvata, the youth wing of the party, almost changed its style of functioning to follow the actor’s directions. The Yuvata president, Mr Beeda Ravichand, has been meeting the actor every day to brief him on the future programmes and agitations it wanted to take up.
Former ministers, Mr B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, Mr Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Mr B.V. Mohan Reddy met the star and held discussion on the prospects of the party. “We are baffled to see that the actor has started talking to the leader directly, bypassing the party hierarchy. And some of the leaders — with their own interests in mind — are actually encouraging this unheard of system,” said a senior leader who is close to Mr Naidu.
