Amit Shah meets media baron Ramoji amid TDP-BJP tie-up speculation

Hyderabad: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday had a one-on-one meeting with media baron Ch Ramoji Rao amidst speculations that the latter was brokering a deal between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.

After addressing a public rally at Munugode in Telangana’s Nalgonda district in the evening, Shah drove straight to Rao’s bungalow in Ramoji Film City on the outskirts of Hyderabad, on his way to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

A senior BJP leader privy to the development said Shah had spent nearly an hour with the 86-year-old media baron at the latter’s residence.

“The meeting was scheduled well in advance and it was completely a one-on-one discussion. What transpired between the two is not immediately known but it is generally presumed that they had discussed the contemporary political situation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” the leader said.

Initially, there were reports in a section of media that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu would also join the meeting, as Ramoji Rao had been the supporter of the TDP right from its inception in 1982.

But the BJP leader denied the reports. “No, Naidu was not called for the meeting at all. It was purely a personal interaction between Shah and Rao,” he said.

Naidu, who had parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance in 2018 breaking the four-year-long alliance with the BJP, has been trying to get back into the NDA fold for quite some time.

During the recent Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, the TDP extended support to BJP candidates Droupadi Murmu and Jagdeep Dhankhar respectively. On August 4, Naidu also had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a gap of four years.

Against this backdrop, Shah’s meeting with Ramoji Rao on Sunday evening led to the speculation that they might have discussed the possible restoration of alliance between the BJP and TDP in Andhra Pradesh in the next elections. “There is no clarity yet on what they discussed; we cannot rule out anything in politics,” the BJP leader quoted above said.

The Union home minister invited popular Tollywood actor Jr N T Rama Rao for a meeting over dinner at Hotel Novotel adjacent to the Hyderabad international airport late in the evening.

Jr NTR, who happens to be nephew of Chandababu Naidu, played an active role in the TDP during 2009-10 and campaigned for the party in 2009 general elections. However, he has been staying away from the party activities since then and confining himself to acting in films.

“There is no political significance to Jr NTR’s meeting with Shah. The Union minister, who had watched the actor’s recent film “RRR” , wanted to appreciate his acting. Hence, the meeting,” the BJP leader quoted above said.