Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy chairperson N. Lakshmi Parvathi has said that TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu is exploiting the name and fame of party founder and former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) without remorse for political gain.
“Mr. Naidu had caused much anguish to his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao and insulted him many times. He has no moral right to even utter the name of NTR. Mr. Naidu is a power monger who back-stabbed NTR,” said Ms. Parvathi. She participated as the chief guest in the birth centenary celebrations of NTR organised by the NTR Vignana Trust and Devineni Nehru Charitable Trust here on Sunday.
“I am tired of fighting against the injustice meted to my husband (NTR). No one cared for my agony,” she said, adding that only those such as Devineni Nehru who stood with NTR till his last breath could claim to be his true political successor.
People should realise the harm done by Mr. Naidu to NTR, and the motive behind TDP national general secretary N. Lokesh’s claim to be the ‘inheritor of his grandfather’s rich legacy’.
Participating in the programme, Andhra Pradesh Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation chairman and actor Posani Krishna Murali said Mr. Naidu had tried in many ways to assassinate the character of Ms. Parvathi, who was an intellectual and well-off by the time NTR had invited her into his life.
“Ms. Parvathi had never asked for NTR’s wealth. His proposal to marry Ms. Parvathi met with resistance from within his family, perhaps due to their fear that he might transfer his assets to her. Mr. Naidu is an opportunist, who should not be allowed to come back to power,” he said.
Film director Ram Gopal Varma described the TDP Mahanadu, which was getting under way in Rajamahendravaram, as a ‘serious joke’. “Those who had tortured NTR and eventually brought his downfall are now showering encomiums on him,” said Mr. Varma.
He said that the recent praising of Mr. Naidu by actor Rajinikanth amounted to ‘back-stabbing the legendary actor’. “NTR Jr. was a real man as he rightly did not share the dais with Mr. Naidu at the party’s annual conclave,” he said.