I am not keen on becoming Minister, says actor Balakrishna

Actor’s tour draws huge crowd at all centres.

Politician turned film actor N. Balakrishna addressing a gathering at a Road Show near Chilakapalle village in Etcherla Mandal of Srikakulam District on Tuesday. Photo: Basheer

Actor-turned-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna on Tuesday said that he would continue to act in films despite entering politics. Addressing a media conference, he said he was not keen on any ministry nor his family attached any importance to posts. Mr. Balakrishna said that his brother Harikrishna might be given a ‘bigger’ post in future though he was denied Assembly ticket.

The actor said that Seemandhra could be developed on par with Singapore under the leadership of N. Chandrababu Naidu, who converted Hyderabad into a high-tech city.

“People are fed up of misadministration in the last ten years. They want overall development of the region and able leadership which can be achieved only when Mr. Chandrababu Naidu is made Chief Minister again. I hope the TDP will get absolute majority and people’s response to my tour is an indicator of their mood,” he added.

Later, he continued his road shows in Chilkapalam, Ponduru, Rajam and Cheepurupalli. Hundreds of his fans and TDP activists gathered at all the centres to get a glance of their ‘hero’. They insisted that he delivers popular dialogues from his movies which he obliged graciously. During the road shows, he spoke at length about corruption that the Congress and YSRC parties indulged in. He also recalled the regimes of N.T. Rama Rao and Mr. Chandrababu Naidu.

Mr. Balakrishna, who was in a jubilant mood throughout his road show, said North Andhra was always a bastion of TDP and helped the party win a majority seats in all the elections.

Party leaders Kinjarapu Rammohan (Srikakulam Lok Sabha segment), P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Vizianagaram Lok Sabha) Pratibha Bharati (Rajam) KalaVenkata Rao (Etcherla) Gunda Lakshmi Devi (Srikakulam Assembly constituency), Kimidi Mrunalini (Cheepurpalli) and others felt that the actor’s tour instilled confidence among the cadre and expressed happiness over its successful completion in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.

The actor would continue road shows in Kottavalasa of Vizianagaram district, Anakapalli, Yelamanchali of Visakhapatnam district on Wednesday.