It was a reunion of sorts for the family of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao at a function to unveil his statue in Parliament on Tuesday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar unveiled the statue of the TDP founder, popularly known as NTR, in the waiting area near the Rajya Sabha gate in Parliament.
Besides Ms. Kumar, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, several Union Ministers and leaders of various political parties were present on the occasion.
Several family members of NTR, who have walked different political paths, were seen together at the brief function.
TDP chief and NTR’s son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu, NTR’s widow Lakshmi Parvathi, NTR’s sons N. Balakrishna, N. Harikrishna, grandson and actor Junior NTR were present at the ceremony. NTR had married Parvathi in 1994, but she has strong differences with the family of the actor-turned-politician since his death in January 1996.
NTR’s daughter D. Purandeswari, a Congress leader and Union Minister of State for Commerce, has sponsored the 9.3-foot bronze statue sculpted by D. Mayacharya.
