NTR family back on political stage

Staking claim for NTR legacy, his eldest daughter and her husband returned to active politics, donning Congress colours, the rout of TDP notwithstanding.

While Chandrababu Naidu and his TDP fell like a pack of cards, NTR's daughter Purandareswari made her electoral debut to Lok Sabha from Bapatla defeating film producer D Rama Naidu by over 90,000 votes.

The resounding victory from Prakasam district was so pronounced that the Congress counted on Bapatla right from the day Purandareswari's name was announced.

Her husband Daggupati Venkateswara Rao, a former MP, also made a forceful comeback by winning the Parchur Assembly seat with a comfortable majority. Parchur Assembly falls under the Bapatla Lok Sabha seat.

Rao and Naidu were equally groomed by NTR and they together overthrew NTR and took over the party reins. Rao was slowly sidelined and he hopped to NTR-TDP and BJP before settling down in Congress.

NTR's widow Lakshmi Parvathi too had a brief stint in politics and lost the election from Atmakur Assembly this time while his eldest son Harikrishna was made a minister after the family coup but was slowly pushed aside.