Hyderabad, May 28 (). The story of NTR is incomplete without Lakshmi Parvati, the second wife of the TDP founder. The dramatic events of NTR’s life revolve around him. After TDP returned to power under NTR with a huge majority in 1994, his first wife and other family members leveled several allegations against Lakshmi Parvati.
College lecturer Lakshmi Parvati, who was living apart from her husband, came into NTR’s life when NTR’s children (seven sons and four daughters) had almost left him.
The former chief minister was single after his first wife Basavatarakam died of cancer in 1985. He was cared for by servants, he needed a companion who could take care of him in the twilight of his life.
Lakshmi Parvathi, who was regularly meeting NTR to write his biography, grew close to him by taking care of him. She provided emotional support to NTR and stayed with him till his death.
In 1991, Lakshmi Parvati first met NTR with a request to write her biography. In an interview to a few years back, she had said that she used to travel from Guntur district to Hyderabad every weekend to meet him to work on his biography.
NTR was out of power at the time before serving twice as chief minister and returning to the state.
She told, I used to come to Hyderabad every Saturday and Sunday. One day he suddenly asked me will you marry me, he said, I didn’t know what to say, because I was living with my parents apart from my first husband. I also had a son to take care of. I asked for one month’s time and then agreed to marry him.
NTR was 70 then, while Lakshmi Parvathi was almost half his age. They married secretly in 1992 and in 1993 NTR announced it publicly at a film festival in Tirupati.
Lakshmi Parvathy recalls that NTR was the hero of her dreams and her first love when he was ruling the Telugu silver screen and she was a 16-year-old college girl. He wrote a poem in 1980, describing her as a star in the sky, which remains beyond the reach of a man standing on earth, and he yearns for it.
Her dream came true much later when she met him. Thus began the love story, a year later they got married. This resulted in tragic events, the reverberations of which can be felt even today.
Lakshmi’s life took a dramatic turn in 1994, as NTR brought TDP back to power with a record-breaking majority. She was hailed as Lucky Parvati, who helped her regain her pride.
According to Lakshmi, they were enjoying a happy married life, but her family members became jealous of her and started conspiracies.
NTR’s son-in-law and the then finance minister and TDP general secretary N Chandrababu Naidu felt that Parvati’s interference in the party’s affairs and administration was increasing. Later, he himself became the Chief Minister by removing NTR from the post.
It was a big shock for NTR, as he never thought that his own family members would turn against him. When the MLAs supporting Naidu were camping at the Viceroy Hotel, he went there with Lakshmi Parvathi to appeal for his return.
However, the TDP chief faced humiliation as some of Naidu’s supporters hurled slippers at his vehicle and hurled abuses at Lakshmi Parvathi.
NTR was heartbroken. The party which he had built with many years of hard work and the power which he had acquired through his charisma had slipped away. Describing Naidu as a backstabster, NTR vowed to expose him by planning a campaign with the title Lion’s Roar.
In those days NTR used to address a press conference every day at his home in Banjara Hills. A senior journalist who regularly attends NTR’s press conferences said, before starting the press conference, he used to ask Parvati to come and sit near him.
NTR, who was planning a campaign to strike back at those who had betrayed him, also addressed a press conference on January 17, 1995. The next day, people got the shocking news that he had died of cardiac arrest.
Lakshmi Parvati said, NTR’s own family members took his life by stabbing him in the back. It was a planned murder.
NTR’s family members, especially his son N Harikrishna, blamed him for his death. He alleged that she was giving him steroids to have a child. Lakshmi refutes the allegations.
Lakshmi Parvati regrets that she met her Lord very late and got very little time to spend with him.
Today I only have his memories, his pictures and busts, one of which is in my worship room, he said. I still worship him.
After the death of NTR, Lakshmi Parvathi tried to regain her political legacy by forming NTR TDP (LP) with some loyalists. He won a by-election from Pathapatnam to become a member of the Legislative Assembly, but the party did not last long.
With a desire to see Naidu’s political downfall, she joined the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in 2012, but remained inactive.
After YSRCP came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, Lakshmi Parvathy was rewarded with the post of President of Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy.
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