On every birth anniversary and death anniversary of Telugu Desam Party founder and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh N T Rama Rao, the demand for confer Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, on him surfaces.
Despite the TDP being part of the Central government three times in the past, party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu could not succeed in getting the Bharat Ratna for NTR.
Even NTR’s daughter Daggubati Purandeshwari had been in the UPA government in the past and now, an important leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, but she, too, had failed to secure the highest civilian award to her father.
Nobody has so far known the reason but now, NTR’s widow (second wife) Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi has revealed the reason behind the Centre denying Bharat Ratna to NTR.
In a latest interview to a GreatAndhra, Lakshmi Parvathi claimed that internal family dynamics are the primary reason behind the continued denial of the award to NTR.
She said she had made extensive efforts over the years, meeting several Prime Ministers and Presidents in Delhi to press for the honour.
According to her, though the Centre had given approval to grant Bharat Ratna to NTR, his own family members resisted it, because they did not want Lakshmi Parvathi to receive the award on his behalf as his spouse. She alleged that this factor has repeatedly stalled the recognition.
Lakshmi Parvathi also accused the TDP of passing resolutions demanding Bharat Ratna for NTR, only to later abandon them without follow-up.
She said former Prime Ministers H. D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral had assured her of support but did not concede the demand for conferring Bharat Ratna on NTR.
“However, it was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who told me the real reason. He candidly told me I was responsible for NTR not getting the award, because the family did not like me receiving the award,” Lakshmi Parvathi said.
She further stated that she had mobilised a massive public campaign, collecting nearly one crore signatures and submitting them to then President K R Narayanan, but to no avail.
