Lakshmi Parvathi visits NTR samadhi after Chandrababu Naidu sent to jail

Hyderabad, Sep 11 (IANS) Lakshmi Parvathi, widow of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao, paid tributes at his Samadhi here on Monday, a day after his son-in-law and former CM N. Chandrababu Naidu was sent to jail in an alleged skill development scam.

Lakshmi Parvathi, a leader of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Telugu and Sanskrit Academy, offered floral tributes at NTR Marg at Hussain Sagar lake.

Her visit to NTR’s Samadhi came a day after Naidu was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Vijayawada. He was shifted to Rajahmundry Central Jail in the early hours of Monday.

Earlier, she told Telugu news channel ‘Sakshi’ that she could not sleep last night due to over excitement following the Vijayawada court’s order.

She said she had long been waiting for this moment. “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,” she said

Lakshmi Parvathi is the second wife of actor-turned-politician N. T. Rama Rao, who was popularly known as NTR. The TDP founder had married Parvathi, who was writing his biography, in 1993.

NTR died of cardiac arrest on January 18, 1995, a few months after Chandarbabu Naidu led a revolt against him and became the chief minister. Naidu and NTR’s children from his first wife were angry over Parvathi’s growing interference in party affairs and the administration.

Parvathi, who went into political oblivion after NTR’s death, had said that her only wish is to see the political downfall of Naidu, the man she believes responsible for NTR's untimely death.

Parvathi had celebrated Naidu’s defeat in 2004 when Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) led Congress stormed to power in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.

In 2012, she joined the YSRCP floated by YSR’s son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

After YSRCP came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, ending the TDP rule, Lakshmi Parvathi was rewarded with the post of chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy.