“If senior NTR been given a ticket to the Rajya Sabha, the TDP would not have been formed”, said Jairam Ramesh and there is an element of truth to his words.
In those days, NTR used to organize a lot of welfare programmes on the strength of his movie-image.
When there was a famine in Rayalaseema and cyclone in Andhra region, NTR not only donated liberally, but he also encouraged the other people in the film industry to lend a helping hand.
Not only that he used to organize rallies in major towns and collected donations from the public which he handed over to the government.
Around this time, he used to play characters on screen depicting him in a the role of a good Samaritan and a man of impeccable character thereby creating for himself an image of Lord Rama and that of a hero in the minds of the masses.
NTR attended the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister, Bhavanam Venkata Rama Reddy, who was his class mate. The issue of his nomination to the Rajya Sabha came up then. But Indira Gandhi for some reason was not in favor of it and subsequently NTR got the idea of setting up his own Party, and the rest as they say is history.
Similarly, the TRS Party in all likelihood would not have been formed if Chandrababu Naidu had given KCR, a position in his Cabinet and thee same goes for Jagan too.
After YSR’ s death, had Jagan been given the post of Chief Minister or at least allowed to continue with his ‘Odarpu Yathra’ in peace, would the YSR Congress Party have come into existence? It is anybody’s guess!
