Chandrababu Naidu pins hopes on NTR jr

As soon as he finishes his Mee Kosam Yatra, the Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, will chalk out a detailed plan to unleash the ‘star power’ in the N.T. Rama Rao family to take on actor Chiranjeevi’s proposed party. As the launch of Chiranjeevi’s party draws closer, the TD leadership is brainstorming on how best to neutralise his effect. The TD chief, who is planning to set up a grand alliance with the Left and other like minded parties to take on the Congress, is also intending to use a phalanx of stars from the NTR family including Harikrishna, Balakrishna, Junior NTR, Kalyan Ram and Tarak Ratna against Chiranjeevi.

Sources said these actors will ask fans to carry out various mass contact programmes to woo different sections of people across the state. The Telugu Desam leaders feel that though other actors of the NTR family have fans, it is Junior NTR who has much sway among the youth.

"Junior NTR is the ray of hope," said a senior TD leader. "Though Balakrishna is also a star hero, he has already conducted political campaigns. But Junior NTR is a fresh face." However, other leaders doubt whether old-timers would like Junior NTR who has shed a lot of weight. Ironically, Mr Naidu, who dethroned his father-in-law, NTR, to become the TD chief, is now pinning his hopes on the NTR charisma.

Apart from following the NTR brand of politics by promising populist schemes, the TD chief is also giving utmost priority to the party founder in the speeches during his Yatra. He has also been unveiling statues of NTR in every nook and cranny of the state. Even the TD headquarters in the state capital now has a life-size statue of its founder president, which was erected recently. Apart from this, the TD leadership is banking on Junior NTR, a lookalike of the veteran, to romp home. Mr Naidu is mustering the support from other film personalities who are close to NTR family. The TD chief will also utilise the services artists to campaign against the Congress government.