Nara Lokesh responds on the Nandi Awards row. Calls critics as “non-resident Andhras”

Andhra Pradesh state government recently announced Nandi awards for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. These awards, which are considered to be quite prestigious by the fans and celebs of Tollywood, unfortunately, find themselves in the midst of a major controversy.

While director Gunasekhar has openly questioned the state’s Chief Minister, Sri Chandrababu Naidu, for not presenting an award to his magnum opus Rudhramadevi, fans of Akkineni and Mega families have expressed their disappointment for not giving their films enough recognition.

Responding on the same, Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Information Technology, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Mr. Nara Lokesh, said the ones who are criticising the state government, are from Hyderabad. He said that some leaders come by flight in morning and return to their places by evening after holding a protest, and have no stakes in the state.

Mr. Nara Lokesh also added that the criticism over the Nandi Awards is coming from “non-resident Andhras”.

Chief Minister Mr. Nara Chandrababu Naidu said that he was pained by the entire row and felt the government shouldn’t have the awards for three years in one go.

Many personalities from Tollywood, including the likes of Bunny Vasu, Nallamalupu Bujji, and Bandla Ganesh among others, felt that the jury did not do a fair job in judging the awards and did the job with a selfish motive behind it.

Movie director Ram Gopal Varma also took a dig over the jury members in his own sarcastic way and quoted, “the jury must be given an Oscar for their extraordinarily meritorious selections.”