Nandamuri Balakrishna, son of Telugu Desam Party founder and legendary actor N T Rama Rao, has turned out to be a big headache for the party, which is presently headed by his brother-in-law and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Balakrishna’s arrogant attitude towards people and media, his loose tongue and his incoherent speeches have made him a big liability for Naidu, who is struggling to retain power for a second successive term due to stiff competition from YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
On Thursday, when media persons covering Naidu’s public meeting at Vijayawada which was attended by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, came with helmets on their head, Naidu was terribly embarrassed.
The reason was obvious: the previous day, Balakrishna abused and slapped a reporter of Mojo TV during his campaign at Hindupur in Anantapur district.
Several TDP leaders at Naidu’s rally are learnt to have commented before the media that despite being NTR’s son, Balakrishna was no asset for the party but instead had become a liability.
“The party has to pay heavy penalty for the goofs-up made by Balakrishna. But there is nothing that we can do, as Balakrishna doesn’t listen to anybody; even to Naidu,” a TDP leader said.
It is a different matter that Balakrishna later apologised to media persons for his “behaviour” but sought to defend his action.
He said he thought some miscreants were trying to push children in their eagerness to shoot his rally and hence had become angry. There are no takers for his statement, though.
