Faces Uncertain Political Future After Being Charged By CBI In Coal Scam. Sixty-six-yearold Dasari Narayan Rao who was named by the CBI in the FIR filed in the coal scam on Tuesday, is a multi-faceted figure, having been a journalist in the past (launched the now defunct ‘Udayam’ Telugu daily to counter Eenadu) and continues to be a Tollywood giant as he is everything that one can be in filmdom – director, producer, actor, writer, lyricist. While movies were and are his primary obsession, he dabbled in politics along the way and has played useful roles for the Congress.
A towering leader from the Kapu community, to which Union tourism minister Chiranjeevi belongs, Dasari was a popular anti-NTR leader and in the 1989 elections, campaigned for the Kapunadu movement, a Kapu social organization.
To protect and promote the interests of the Kapu community, Dasari was all set to launch a political party before the Lok Sabha elections in 1996 to counter the Kamma-dominated Telugu Desam Party. In fact, the party, named Telugu Talli, was to be launched at an event in LB Stadium in Hyderabad. However, fearing that the anti-TDP votes would be split by him, he was prevailed upon by the Congress to drop the move. Dasari then actively campaigned for the Kapu candidates in the Congress in the 1996, 1998 and 1999 general elections.
He was finally rewarded with a Rajya Sabha berth in 2000. While being a member of a few house standing committees, Dasari kept himself busy with films, producing and directing them. In all, he has directed about 150 films including a few in Bollywood, produced 53 movies and was dialogue writer and lyricist in over 250 films. He made his debut as an actor in 1952 but found his calling behind the screen.
Dasari was thrown into centre-stage when he was inducted as a minister of state in 2004, when the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh was swept to power at the Centre. He was given the portfolios of coal and mines. While Sis Ram Ola was the cabinet minister for mines, Shibu Soren was the coal minister. However, JMM leader Shibu Soren was forced to resign from the cabinet in July 2004 due to a court case, and Dasari became the virtual boss of the coal ministry after that. In February 2006, Dasari was stripped of the mines portfolio but continued to remain the minister of state for coal.
As coal minister, Dasari contradicted the government’s stand when he told Parliament in November 2007 that competitive bidding for coal blocks would not lead to an increase in price of coal. This, when the UPA government was insisting that the auctioning of coal blocks would have triggered a rise in products of power and other industries that use coal.
Subsequently, in the Union cabinet reshuffle in April 2008, Dasari along with T Subbarami Reddy was dropped. While no reason was cited, it was clear that the Congress bosses were not happy with the performance of the two ministers.
Dasari completed his second stint in the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and was not nominated for the third time. Since then, he has kept himself busy in Tollywood and has become the unofficial champion and spokesperson for the small producers. With his name figuring in the coalgate FIR,
Dasari’s political future has suddenly been plunged into a big uncertainty, with the possibility of an arrest looming in the near future.
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