Hyderabad, May 28 (). NT Rama Rao married his cousin long before he went to college and rose to stardom. This was in 1942, by which time he was only 20 years old. NTR’s wife was Basavatarakam, the daughter of his maternal uncle. The couple had seven sons and four daughters.
However, none of them could become his political successor. NTR’s son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu took over the political legacy of TDP.
NTR’s two sons N. Harikrishna and N. Balakrishna started acting since childhood and later emerged as one of the top stars of Tollywood.
Almost all of NTR’s children supported Naidu when he led a rebellion against him in 1995 and became chief minister, citing the growing interference of NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi in party affairs and administration.
Naidu made Harikrishna a cabinet minister. He later split with his brother-in-law and formed the Anna TDP in 1999. On the slogan of protecting NTR’s legacy, the party fought elections for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha simultaneously.
Harikrishna returned to TDP after a decade and Naidu made him a Rajya Sabha member. He resigned as MP in 2014 to protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
NTR had named his fourth son Balakrishna as his political successor, but he confined himself to campaigning for the party. Like most of his siblings, Balakrishna supported Naidu in the 1995 coup against NTR.
In 2014 Balakrishna, popularly known as Balaiya, entered electoral politics and was elected to the assembly from Hindupur. He retained the seat in 2019.
Balakrishna’s daughter Brahmani is married to Nara Lokesh, the only child of Chandrababu Naidu.
Interestingly, Naidu is grooming Lokesh as his political successor. The young leader is still struggling to prove his mettle.
It is noteworthy that Harikrishna does not like Naidu’s promotion of Lokesh as his political successor.
Harikrishna is keen to hand over the reins of TDP to his son Jr NTR. Jr NTR is one of the top actors in the Telugu film industry.
Jr NTR campaigned for TDP for some time in 2009. However, his campaign was abandoned midway after he was injured in a road accident. Since then he stayed away from politics. Harikrishna died in a road accident in 2018.
Many TDP leaders privately admit that Jr NTR can single-handedly revive TDP because of his massive mass appeal.
The TDP is passing through a difficult phase after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party in 2019.
NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvati also wants Jr NTR to enter politics and take over TDP. He said that he has his blessings on the young man.
Junior NTR and Lakshmi Parvathi, the son of Harikrishna’s second wife, had to face a more or less similar situation. Only after great success in films, the young actor was brought back to the family.
Jr NTR, who turns 40 this month, has emerged as a pan-India actor with the blockbuster RRR. He is also said to be working on some other pan-India films. In his career spanning 22 years, he has acted in 29 films and is rated as the most successful actor of the NTR clan after his grandfather and uncle Balakrishna.
Junior NTR, who started acting as a child artist, made his debut as a lead actor in Ninnu Chudalani (2001). With good oratory skills like NTR, many see Jr NTR as the natural successor to his political legacy.
His recent meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah fueled speculation about his political plans. However, the actor remained tight-lipped. It remains to be seen whether he will come forward to claim his grandfather’s political legacy.
The 2019 elections marked the entry of the third generation of NTR into electoral politics. Lokesh contested unsuccessfully for the assembly.
TDP President Chandrababu Naidu fielded Harikrishna’s daughter and Jr NTR’s half-sister N Suhasini from Kukatpally assembly constituency in Hyderabad in the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections, but she was also unsuccessful.
NTR’s family is not limited to TDP only, but is spread across the political spectrum.
NTR formed the TDP on an anti-Congress issue, but his daughter D. Purandeswari and her husband D. Venkateswara Rao joined the Congress in 2004. Purandeshwari, who was elected to the Lok Sabha twice on a Congress ticket and even became a minister in the UPA government. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, she joined the BJP in 2014.
She contested from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, but stood fourth. Interestingly, Balakrishna’s other son-in-law M. Bharath was the TDP candidate in Visakhapatnam and was the runner-up.
However, Purandeshwari’s husband preferred the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and contested for the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Parchur. Daggubati, who won the seat on a Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009, lost the elections.
Daggubati, who had supported Naidu in the 1995 coup, later turned his back on NTR. After the death of NTR, he stayed with NTR TDP (LP) for some time. In 1999, he joined the Anna TDP formed by Harikrishna. After the party’s humiliating defeat, he stayed away from politics for a few years. In 2004, he joined the Congress party along with his wife.
It is also interesting to note that no member of NTR’s extended family is in active politics in Telangana, which came into existence in 2014 with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
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