After Nara Lokesh rubbished all the criticism against the recently announced Nandi Awards, well-known film personality Posani Krishna Murali has retaliated with strong words.

Expressing his admiration for the people and government of Telangana for never making them feel like an outsider despite the long protest for a separate state, Posani said, “Just because we criticised the Nandi awards, you call us non-resident Andhras? In so many years, despite their strong criticism for the politicians of Andhra who ruled Telangana, at no point did KCR ask us to leave.”



Questioning how the statement could be made by an important member of a political party, Posani reasoned, “Does Lokesh understand that before 2014, we were one state? In fact, till 2024, this is our capital too. Lokesh, don’t any of your family members have properties or houses in Hyderabad? Aren’t they paying taxes? Then why are we being questioned about paying taxes in Telangana?”

He asked, “So, you can have a life in Telangana and do politics in AP, but we can’t even criticise, is it? Then why did you have to take the help of Jury members who are from Andhra for the award selections? Are you trying to create a regional rift?”

Finally, reacting to Lokesh’s statement that if things go out of hand, they’d stop the awards altogether, Posani said, “Is it wrong to raise our voice? We pointed out errors and asked them to be corrected. Award ceremonies have always been subject to criticism, be it the Bharat Ratna or the Padma Awards, but no one has said that they’d remove the awards altogether.”