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Upset over TDP-Congress tie-up, NTR’s wife wants husband’s ‘rebirth’
Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi placed her letter at Rao’s Samadhi on the banks of Hussainsagar lake in Hyderabad.
Opposing Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s move to ally Telugu Desam Party with the Congress, the widow of party founder N T Rama Rao has, in an unusual gesture, asked the late leader to take “reincarnation” to restore the self-respect of Telugu people, which had been “mortgaged with the Congress bosses in Delhi”.
Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi placed her letter at Rao’s Samadhi on the banks of Hussainsagar lake in Hyderabad, before staging a silent sit-in in protest against Naidu joining hands with Congress president Rahul Gandhi a couple of days ago.
In the letter, Lakshmi Parvathi regretted that the TDP founded by NTR with the lofty ideal of upholding the self-respect of Telugu people was surrendered to the same Congress which he had strongly opposed till his last breath.
“I still remember your words explaining the reasons which compelled you to give up your 35 years of career in films and take up the responsibility of rescuing Andhra Pradesh from the clutches of corrupt Congress,” she said.
NTR, a popular Telugu actor, is still revered as a god by the Telugu people because of the mythological roles of Lord Krishna, Rama and Vishnu, he had played in the films.
Mentioning about his revolutionary welfare schemes like providing rice at Rs 2 per kg to the poor, total prohibition in the state, 33% reservation to women in local bodies, etc., she noted that even when he had lost power in 1989, he had “not compromised on your principles and had not joined hands with any other party for the sake of power”. “And you bounced back to power in 1994 with a thumping majority.”
It was unfortunate that his son-in-law Naidu, who had usurped power (of the party) from him through “deceit” in August 1994, had completely destroyed the fabric of the party and given a go-by to its fundamental principle of opposing the Congress.
“I just could not control my tears on coming to know how Naidu had knelt down before the Congress president for an opportunistic alliance,” she said, appealing him to take “reincarnation” and rescue Telugu people.
“I don’t know in which form you take re-birth. Or infuse your spirit into a sincere leader to restore the ideals which you had fought for. I strongly wish the Telugu people would be able to live with their heads held high with self-respect and prestige again,” she wrote.
After the death of her husband, Lakshmi Parvathi had floated a separate political party NTR Telugu Desam Party in 1996 and got elected to the state assembly from Srikakulam district. She, however, could not sustain the party and finally merged it with YSR Congress party in 2012.
Senior TDP leader and one of the founder-members of the party Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, however, said NTR had established the TDP not against any particular party but against the system prevailing at that time.
“In the present circumstances, Naidu has decided to join hands with the Congress to restore the democracy and Constitutional values in the country,” he explained.
