If the reports coming from the Telugu Desam Party are to be believed, senior actor and party MLA from Hindupur Nandamuri Balakrishna is going to play an active role in the party in the coming days.
Apparently, TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is understood to have decided to invoke the spirit of N T Rama Rao more and more in the coming days to get back the support of the people, apart from enthusing the party cadre.
As his son Lokesh has miserably failed to win over the people and the party workers are in no mood to accept him as their leader, the only option left before the TDP president is to give importance to someone from NTR’s family.
That is precisely why Naidu is planning to give bigger responsibility to Balakrishna in the party. Apart from being just an MLA, Balayya is likely to get a prominent position – may be a politburo member or working president.
He is likely to be made in-charge of Rayalaseema region where the party had put up a miserable show in the recent assembly elections winning just three out of 54 seats.
As part of the strategy, Naidu is understood to have asked Balakrishna to talk to the senior party leaders who are now looking towards the Bharatiya Janata Party to protect their political future.
He is expected to talk to the disgruntled leaders in Anantapur and appoint new leaders in areas like Dharmavaram, where senior TDP leader Gonuguntla Suryanarayana defected to the BJP.
At the same time, Balakrishna is also likely to hold negotiations with Paritala family and take its help in restoring the party strength in the district.
“If Balakrishna takes a lead in the party, there will be some rejuvenation in the party. If he is not very keen on taking up the responsibility, he can rope his daughter Nara Brahmani into active politics and groom her as the NTR scion,” a TDP sources said.