Hyderabad, September 11: Lakshmi Parvathi, the widow of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao, paid her respects at his Samadhi on Monday. This visit came a day after her son-in-law and former CM, N. Chandrababu Naidu, was sent to jail in connection with an alleged skill development scam.
Lakshmi Parvathi, a prominent leader of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Telugu and Sanskrit Academy, offered floral tributes at NTR Marg, located by the picturesque Hussain Sagar lake.
Her visit to NTR’s Samadhi followed Naidu’s judicial remand for 14 days, ordered by a court in Vijayawada. In the early hours of Monday, Naidu was transferred to Rajahmundry Central Jail.
In an interview with Telugu news channel ‘Sakshi,’ Lakshmi Parvathi expressed her excitement, revealing that she had trouble sleeping due to the events of the previous night. She remarked, “I am happy, as I had a feeling for a long time that these crooks have locked up the god of justice. Finally, I have seen some justice.”
Lakshmi Parvathi is the second wife of the renowned actor-turned-politician N. T. Rama Rao, affectionately known as NTR. The TDP founder had wed Parvathi, who was working on his biography, in 1993.
NTR passed away due to a cardiac arrest on January 18, 1995, a few months after Chandrababu Naidu led a revolt against him and assumed the role of Chief Minister. Naidu and NTR’s children from his first wife had expressed dissatisfaction with Parvathi’s increasing involvement in party affairs and administration.
Parvathi, who retreated from the political scene after NTR’s demise, had consistently expressed her desire to witness Naidu’s political downfall, as she believed him to be responsible for NTR’s untimely death.
In 2004, Parvathi celebrated Naidu’s electoral defeat when Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) led the Congress to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh. In 2012, she joined the YSRCP founded by YSR’s son, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Following the YSRCP’s victory in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, ending the TDP’s rule, Lakshmi Parvathi was appointed as the chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy.
