Mohan Babu's speech at Lepakshi Utsavam 2016 was straight from the heart. As ever, he took the opportunity to recount his association with NTR, while also drawing a parallel between NTR and Balayya, not to mention lacing his speech with the legend of Achyuta Rayalu and Virupanna.

He bagan his speech with a salutation to the dignitaries, and those with whom he has had a strong association. For eg, 'sodarudu' Paritala Ravindra, and 'maradalu' Sunitha.

His about 12-minutes-long speech was punctuated with references to the legend of Achyuta Rayalu, and Virupanna to draw attention to how Balakrishna like the late NTR is not the one who listens to 'cheppudu matalu.' "There are Mandaras and Shakunis even today. An actress tried her best to drive a rift between me and Anna garu (NTR). She went to him complaining about me, but Anna garu was not the one to listen to such things. He was open with me. Balayya too is like his father. The other day, someone deliberately told him that I had his poster removed from a college gate. Any other would have called me up and asked, 'What's the thing?' But Balayya didn't," Mohan Babu said.

"Today's generation doesn't know that about how Anna garu collected funds to save Rayalaseema when a severe drought hit it. He could have amassed thousands of crores, he could have divided the State among his sons, but he didn't do that," he said. If the next generation is told that Lord Rama and Lord Krishna looked like him, they should believe that, he added.

"When after Major Chandrakanth, Anna garu attended a meeting of Congress Party members, there was a conspiracy to embarrass him. It was only I who raised the slogans, 'NTR zindabad', without fear. His last film was with me. It was he who sent me to Rajya Sabha," he recalled.

Hailing the Hindupur MLA Balakrishna, he said that every State should have at least five MLAs like him. "His great efforts to make Lepakshi a hub of tourism, to make it special on the Indian map are terrific. The way he has been working towards that for the last 2 months deserve kudos. He could have earned crores doing films in this time, but he worked for Lepakshi. We see anna garu in you," he said.