Naidu, Purandareswari pay tributes to NTR on death anniversary
By IANSTuesday, January 18, 2011
HYDERABAD - Rich tributes were paid to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Rama Rao Tuesday on his 15th death anniversary.
NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi, his daughter and central minister D. Purandareswari, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, his wife D. Bhuvaneswari, their son Lokesh, NTR’s sons N. Harikrishna, N. Ramakrishna and other family members paid tributes at NTR Ghat on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake here.
Lakshmi Parvathi, Purandareswari and Naidu separately paid their homage to NTR, a popular actor-turned-politician and one of the popular leaders in the state’s history.
Naidu demanded that NTR be conferred Bharat Ratna for his services to the people.
The former chief minister, who unseated his father-in-law from power in 1995 following the alleged growing interference by Lakshmi Parvathi in the party and administration, said the state can never find a leader like NTR “who gave self-respect to Telugu people and remained an inspiration for all the generations to come”.
NTR’s daughter Purandareswari, who joined the Congress party before the 2004 elections and has since been serving as a minister at the centre, said her father’s ideals of honesty, discipline and selfless service helped her to come up in life.
She was accompanied by her husband and Congress legislator D. Venkateshwara Rao.
Paying his tributes, NTR’s son and TDP MP N. Harikrishna alleged that the Telugu self-respect for which his father founded TDP was being sold away by the Congress party.
“The life of the common man has become miserable under Congress rule as the prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing,” said Harikrishna, who was accompanied by his brother N. Ramakrishna and actor son Kalyanram.
Several senior leaders of TDP also paid their respects to NTR, who died suddenly in 1996, a few months after Naidu led a revolt against him.
NTR, a popular Telugu actor, had launched TDP in 1982 on the slogan of Telugu self-respect and created a record of sorts by coming to power within nine months, ending the single party rule of Congress.
