Ramoji Rao – The Fighter @ 87

[Anta Assamey]

Media baron Ramoji Rao might be over 87 years in age. But, he still continues to have clout over politics in Andhra and Telangana because he is the owner of media behemoth Eenadu which has the largest circulation among all Telugu news dailies.

Though Ramoji Rao has traditionally been inclined towards the Telugu Desam Party since its inception, he commands huge respect among the readers of Eenadu because of his journalistic values and the bold stance he adopted in presenting the facts irrespective of the party at the helm.

Despite facing numerous hurdles and pressure from politicians like YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Undavalli Arun Kumar and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Ramoji Rao pulled no punches and called a spade a spade in his newspaper even if something is against the ruling dispensation.

Rajasekhar Reddy tried to counter Ramoji Rao with ‘Sakshi’ paper, but couldn’t succeed because of the credibility achieved by ‘Eenadu’ by that time is second to none.

Though Sakshi picked up when YSR came to power, Eenadu maintained its dominant position. Even Undavalli Arun Kumar foisted several cases on him, but failed to change Ramoji’s uncompromising attitude.

Cut to the present, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also tried his best to bring down Ramoji’s empire by targeting Margadarshi Chit fund limited. Jagan used AP CID and rubbed Ramoji on the wrong side.

Jagan even tried to interrogate him when he was battling with life due to ill-health. This inhumane treatment turned out to be the biggest blunder committed by YS Jagan’s government because Ramoji Rao settled the scores with Jagan in no time.

Ramoji Rao played a significant role in dethroning Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP from power. As Eenadu is the largest circulated daily in Andhra Pradesh, the findings of YSRCP’s corrupt practices and tyrannical policies have been published regularly to enlighten the people of Andhra Pradesh.

In the last few years, Eenadu went on a rampage and came up with numerous scathing articles on Jagan’s style of governance.

Eenadu made sure that the public made notice on how Jagan bungled the state in all aspects. It came up with adequate proofs to corroborate its views on every subject that has been grappling the state.

It is an undeniable fact that Ramoji Rao played an indispensable role in bringing down Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party in 2024 elections by exposing the mistakes like no other media house in Telugu States.