Freedom of speech and expression is a questionable right especially when the elections are coming up. The past has seen a lot of injustice against journalists and media houses in the name of outside pressure. Recently, Actor-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna lost his cool and misbehaved with a channel’s journalist. The incident took place on Wednesday while Balakrishna was at his campaign. He is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu‘s brother-in-law.
Balakrishna will be contesting the polls for the second time as MLA from Hindupur assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh.
Reportedly, during his campaign yesterday, Balakrishna got irked by a journalist who was filming his campaign and threw abuses at the media person mercilessly. According to sources, he insisted that the pictures be deleted while threatening the journalist and calling him a rascal. He was further reported saying“I will kill you. I know how to throw bombs and wield a knife.”
However, this is not the first time Balakrishna was seen losing his cool in public. He is infamous for slapping people trying to take selfies with him. In 2004, he was accused of shooting at producer Bellamkonda Suresh in self-defense.
Hours after the incident, Balakrishna took to Twitter issuing a formal apology for attacking the journalist.
“It was a mistake on my part to assume that people who are taking videos of kids are miscreants. I felt they are misbehaving with the kids. I have no idea they are from the media. I apologize to all media persons who are troubled by my behavior.”