On Sunday, union home minister Amit Shah while on an election campaign for the Munugode assembly seat in Telangana met Tollywood celebrity Junior NTR.
While BJP leaders termed it just a courtesy call, stating that Shah wanted to have a discussion with the RRR star over his performance in the blockbuster, party sources said the meeting had another aim.
A senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that the meeting had political undertones not just for Telangana but also for adjoining Andhra Pradesh.
Hint to Pawan Kalyan
According to a senior party leader, the meeting wasn’t just to praise Junior NTR, who has family relations with TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, but because the BJP wanted to send a strong message to Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.
“There is a mass following of the two actors in both the Telugu states. And both are considered to hail from Andhra Pradesh. Shah meeting Junior NTR would mean that the party doesn’t have to bank on one and has alternatives ready,” said the leader.
The effect was instant. “Kalyan soon after had a press conference in which he declared that he is maintaining equidistant from both TDP and YSRCP,” stated the highly placed source.
But when Kalyan has pledged his support to the BJP, why was the meeting required?
Explained the source, “Kalyan had been oscillating towards the TDP. He had an understanding with the TDP in the 2014 elections and then in 2019 that changed with the BJP entering the fray as a party that didn’t have the TDP as an ally. He in Delhi had promised to stay with the BJP but also kept saying that he doesn’t want opposition votes to get divided and that doesn’t elicit trust.” Senior BJP leaders maintained that they had been working with Kalyan for a long time and, as he too is a superstar, they would want to gain from his popularity and his vote bank.
Getting everyone talking
A few leaders from the state believe that there was also another reason for this high-profile meeting: generating a buzz.
“With Shah arriving in Telangana and, if he meets a superstar like Junior NTR who also has a relationship with N Chandrababu Naidu, the kind of buzz it would create will be unparalleled. For a few days, people will keep talking about it in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” said another source.
Junior NTR set for political act?
With the BJP looking at popular faces to win seats for it in both the assembly and Parliament, it is zeroing in on people in all the states that can add to its tally.
However, not many in the party believe that there is any such plan for Junior NTR in the Telugu states.
“Junior NTR may live in Hyderabad but it is very difficult to imagine him contesting from Telangana. These people still do not accept Andhra people ruling them. He may work with the TDP-BJP alliance but that looks impossible as of now. He was a star campaigner of the TDP in the 2009 polls,” stated a source.
Another senior leader added, “Junior NTR does not have the same relationship with Naidu he used to have. The reason is Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh. Shah might have had something in mind about him but this meeting was aimed at keeping Kalyan in his place.”
The BJP is targeting both Telugu-speaking states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. While it has hopes more from Telangana, it also wants to establish itself in Andhra. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha seats, and Telangana has 17. Sources said while the BJP has reached a saturation point in northern states and is expecting the loss of a few seats, it aims to compensate for that from the southern states.
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