Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is under tremendous pressure these days. Not because, he is facing difficulty in selection of candidates for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.
But, the pressure is from within the family. His brother-in-law, senior actor and TDP MLA from Hindupur Nandamuri Balakrishna has been sitting on his head to give the party ticket to his second son-law M Sri Bharat from a suitable assembly or Lok Sabha constituency.
This has landed Naidu in a dilemma – as there are already three persons in his family in the party politics– he, his son Nara Lokesh and Balakrishna. So, if Bharat comes into the scene, it will be the fourth person from the family to come into politics.
Moreover, Lokesh is also the elder son-in-law of Balakrishna and so, if Bharat has to be given the party ticket, it will lead to a negative talk that Balakrishna and his two sons-in-law are dominating the party politics.
This will lead to further disgruntlement in the family, as other descendants of NTR like Junior NTR feel sidelined.
But Bharat also has a strong political background. He is grandson of senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former Visakhapatnam MP and founder of Gitam Group of Institutions M V V S Murthy, who died in an accident in the US a few months ago. He is married to Balakrishna’s younger daughter Tejaswini in 2013.
When Bharat is lobbying for the party ticket for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency, which the young leader has been nurturing for the last few days, Naidu asked him to wait for the next term and gain enough political experience in the meanwhile.
But Bharat said he would lag behind his other contemporaries as all parties are encouraging youngsters.
Simultaneously, he started bringing pressure on Naidu through his father-in-law. Now, Balakrishna is insisting that Bharat should be given party ticket from Vizag LS seat. But since Lokesh is likely to be fielded from Visakhapatnam north, Naidu cannot field Bharat for the LS seat.
Moreover, Visakhapatnam is a very high-profile constituency and Naidu cannot take risk by fielding a political novice like Bharat.
So, that has become a headache for Naidu. Latest report is that he is now contemplating fielding Bharat from Rajahmundry LS seat. It is not clear whether Bharat would agree for it or not.