Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, VK Naresh was attracted to politics. He was an active BJP member in the Vajpayee era. In a social media post today, the senior Tollywood artist recounted his harrowing experiences and lucky escapes during the peak of the Naxal movement in then united Andhra Pradesh.
Inaugurating a Lord Shiva temple today, he wrote, "As a state Youth Wing president of BJP, I worked with an action (supari) team, where Naxals shadowed me. I escaped sharp shooters narrowly twice in three years. Changing shelters in the night with a weapon tucked in and two government gunmen. They were finally shot down 3 km away from me in Bukkapatnam in Anantapur district."
He then turned philosophical and wrote, "If it's God's will that you should live, nobody can stop you."
In an interview last year, Naresh said, "I stayed away from cinema to be able to participate in politics at one point in my life. Around the year 2000, Indian politics saw a transformational change. Coalition governments used to fall like anything in the 1990s. At that time, Vajpayee garu's leadership provided stability for years. I have always been attracted to the ideology of the RSS. I lived in Naxal-infested and backward regions. I was engaged in politics quite intimately. I somehow quit politics and took up cinema. SV Ranga Rao garu is the biggest inspiration to me in starting a second innings."
