NTR is dead, but his legacy thrives across political parties

What do rivals Telugu Desam Party (TDP), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and BJP have in common in Andhra Pradesh? Each of them has at least one member of former chief minister NT Rama Rao (NTR)’s extended family in the poll fray fighting on its behalf. This indicates that NTR’s political legacy still finds resonance in the state politics, more than 23 years after his death.

A matinee idol in Telugu cinema who made a name for himself in politics, NTR was a three-time chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. His extended family is now scattered across the political spectrum. The TDP founder’s son-in-law and present chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, son and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna and grandson Nara Lokesh are the key commanders for the ruling TDP in the poll battle. NTR’s daughter and former union minister Daggubati Purandeswari is in the BJP camp while her husband and former MP Daggubati Venkateswara Rao is contesting Assembly election on behalf of the YSRCP.

NTR’s widow N Lakshmi Parvathi, who was at the centre of a bitter drama in the first family of TDP that led to a split in the party and dethronement of NTR in 1995, now supports the YSRCP and extensively campaigns for the opposition party.

Late to the race

NTR’s son and Naidu’s brother-in-law, Balakrishna, is seeking re-election from Hindupur Assembly constituency in Anantapur district, while his son-in-law Bharat has secured a party ticket to contest from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. Interestingly, Purandeswari is in the fray there on behalf of BJP. Earlier, she was elected from the constituency in 2009 on a Congress ticket. She had served in the Manmohan Singh cabinet as the HRD minister.

Her husband is the YSRCP nominee for the Paruchur Assembly seat from where he was elected four times in the past. He was a minister in the NTR cabinet and an MP from Bapatla constituency. In fact, Rao wanted to retire from active political life and make way for his son, D Chenchuram, to enter politics and contest from Paruchuru this time. However, his son, who is a US citizen, could not complete the formalities pertaining to surrendering his American citizenship and return to the country in time to file nomination papers. Chenchuram joined the YSRCP last month in the presence of party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Dramatis personae 

NTR’s family was a divided house during the tumultuous drama in 1995, when the party he founded was shaken by a revolt led by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu. The political coup eventually led to a split in the party, toppling NTR from power on a midnight of August the same year.

Naidu and his supporters cite the alleged growing interference in party affairs by NTR’s second wife N Lakshmi Parvathi for the revolt. She entered NTR’s life as his biographer in the early 1990s and the two got married in 1993, against the wishes of his family members. During the drama, NTR’s sons Balakrishna and Harikrishna, and Rao sided with Naidu. However, Rao later changed his mind and returned to NTR’s fold.