YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s repeated attempts to convince the people that “we will come to power this time” by saying “no one will be left behind” continue to fail. His latest efforts to take political mileage from the “Kamineni Srinivas – Nandamuri Balakrishna – Chiranjeevi” controversy failed due to timely intervention and `crisis management’ skills exhibited by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
The TDP- Jana Sena- BJP alliance, which came to power after the 2024 elections, has been using the Legislative Assembly as a platform to highlight the failures of the previous YSRCP regime. In this context, BJP MLA Dr. Kamineni Srinivas made a strategic statement. He recalled that Chiranjeevi had met the then Chief Minister Jagan to discuss the controversy over the price of movie tickets during the previous government.
Kamineni, who is close to Chandrababu, Chiranjeevi and NTR’s family, alleged that Jagan agreed to the meeting only if Chiranjeevi strongly defended him. Through this, he seems to be intended to portray Jagan as arrogant and at the same time praise Chiranjeevi, the brother of alliance partner Pawan Kalyan, as a hero.
However, before Kamineni could finish his speech, TDP MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna intervened, refuting Kamineni’s claim that no one had defended Jagan. Not stopping there, he used vulgar language, calling Jagan a “psycho”. This led to a heated argument between the alliance MLAs.
Balakrishna may have thought that Kamineni’s comment would damage his image as Jagan’s main critic. Moreover, his heated remarks exposed the lack of coordination in the alliance. On the other hand, Megastar Chiranjeevi issued a press release with a polite ending. He clarified that the then Chief Minister Jagan had not insulted him at all and that the meeting was amicable.
In the past, Jagan invited Chiranjeevi’s family for lunch and were treated with respect. Later, when Chiranjeevi went with representatives of the film industry, Jagan ignored them and showed his superiority. In this, Chiranjeevi mentioned only a partial truth, such as Ashwadham Hata: Kunjara.
Moreover, he gently recalled that the ticket prices of the movie had increased due to his initiative, which also benefited Balakrishna’s film “Veera Simha Reddy”. Without resorting to a direct attack, he answered Balakrishna with facts. He refused to use him as a political pawn and asserted his dignity and independence.
Mega fans and Jana Sena activists expressed anger over Balakrishna’s comments. In some places, Balakrishna’s effigies were burned. Realizing that this controversy would damage the unity of the alliance, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu immediately intervened.
On his orders, Kamineni Srinivas ended the controversy by withdrawing his comments. Explaining that his comments had been misunderstood, he politely requested the Speaker to remove them from the records. The controversy was settled after the Speaker removed the comments of both Kamineni and Balakrishna from the records.
The YSRCP tried to turn this controversy in its favor. It propagated through its media that there were internal conflicts in the alliance and that they were ruling with lies. However, this strategy completely failed. With Chiranjeevi’s statement, there was no “victim” in this story.
As the alliance leadership responded quickly and resolved the issue, the YSRCP campaign lost its life. This incident left YSRCP with only political losses. In a way, this controversy did not show the weakness of the alliance, but the strength of Chandrababu’s `crisis mangement’ skills.
