Elections 2014: Nagarjuna-Narendra Modi meet raises brows
"Impressed with Gujarat's development," said Nagarjuna
Hyderabad: Actor Nagarjuna’s meeting with BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad on Monday evening raised several eyebrows, particularly in the backdrop of his business connections with controversial industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, who has been facing court trail in the Vanpic project allotment case.
After meeting Mr Modi for over an hour, Nagarjuna told waiting newsmen that he was very impressed with the way Gujarat had developed and said that both Seemandhra and Telangana would develop if Mr Modi became the prime minister. He, however, made it clear that he was not interested in politics and his meeting with Mr Modi had been suggested by BJP senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Unconfirmed reports meanwhile suggested that Nagarjuna had sought a BJP party ticket for his wife and animal activist, Amala from the Vijayawada Parliamentary constituency.
“I just came here to meet Mr Modi. He might be the next prime minister of India and it’s a great opportunity for me to exchange ideas with him. That’s the only agenda and there is no political agenda. I am not a politician neither is my family,” said the actor after the meeting.
Sources say that Nagarjuna is presently engaged in developing additional seven acres of the Annapurna Cine Studio complex into a modern entertainment park with multiplex theatres etc. with the help of Mr Prasad. They also said that Mr Prasad had donated “few crores of rupees” to the “Akshara” English medium school constructed next to the Swarna Bharathi Trust near Nellore promoted by Mrs Deepa Venkat, daughter of Mr Venkaiah Naidu.
“Since Nimmagadda is facing trail in the Vanpic case, it is expected of him to use his business partner to help him in the event of BJP coming to power at the Centre in the next elections,” said a source.
“I visited a model village in Gujarat before meeting Modi and I was surprised to see that they had all the modern facilities like wi-fi and broadband and 24 hour power,” said the actor.
After Nagarjuna, other top stars like Mahesh Babu and NTR Jr may also meet Mr Modi in a couple of days. According to sources, both these stars wanted to meet Mr Modi without any media hype.
“They are willing to meet Narendra Modi, but they wanted to keep it a secret,” said a source.