Telugu film actor, senior leader of Telugu Desam Party and former Member of Parliament Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident in Nalgonda district of Telangana in the early hours of Wednesday. On September 2 he would have turned 62.
Harikrishna was third among the 8 sons of NT Rama Rao, the TDP founder and former CM. Harikrishna was third member of the family to meet a road accident in Nalgonda district. The news of his death plunged both the political and film world in the two Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana into gloom.
According to police, Harikrishna was in driver’s seat when the accident occurred. He was going from Hyderabad to Nellore to attend a wedding ceremony. His two friends Venkat Rao and Shivaji, who were travelling with him, were injured in the accident. According to them, Harikrishna lost control over the vehicle when he turned to pick up a water bottle while driving the vehicle at 160 km/hour. The vehicle turned several times after hitting the divider and Harikrishna fell out of the vehicle suffering severe injuries to head and chest.
Onlookers immediately rushed him to Kamineni Hospital at Narketpally where he succumbed to his injuries.
Nalgonda District Superintendent of Police Ranganath told the media that the accident was caused due to over speeding. "If he had put on the seat belt, the impact could have been less", he said. The speed of the car at the time of accident was 160 km/hour, he added. "The car was found 15 meters away from the place where it hit the divider and Harikrishna was found lying 20 meters away," he said.
Harikrishna' brother-in-law and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Minister Nara lokesh rushed by helicopter to Nalgonda on hearing about the accident. Naidu broke down when he saw the body of his brother-in-law who had played a key role in his rise to the post of AP Chief Minister in August 1995.
Harikrishna's other brother and popular actor N Balakrishna, his sisters Bhuvaneshwari and Purandeswari and two sons NTR junior and Kalyan Ram (also Telugu actors) also rushed to the hospital. After postmortem, the body was shifted to Hyderabad and was kept at his residence in Mehdipatnam area of the city. Naidu also accompanied the body to the city. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who paid tributes to Harikrishna by laying a wreath announced that he be accorded a State funeral.
A large number of mourners both from film and political worlds gathered at Harikrishna's residence for his last glimpse. The body will be shifted to TDP headquarters in the evening to enable party workers to pay their respects.
Harikrishna who started his film career as a child actor later turned to politics and played a vital role in Chandrababu Naidu's coup against NTR in August 1995 by mobilising entire family in support of Naidu against NTR. Second marriage of NTR to lakshmi Parvathi had triggered the family revolt and catapulted Naidu to the post of Chief Minister and TDP president.
Naidu rewarded him with a Ministry as well as made him the chief of the youth wing of TDP. He also served as member of Rajya Sabha. However he was gradually sidelined in the party and intermittently acted in Telugu films. At one stage he had also staged a revolt against Naidu and floated his own party which failed to make a mark forcing him to return to the TDP. However it did not deter him from speaking out against Naidu from time to time.
His association with active politics started on an interesting note as he became the driver of his father's famous "Chaitanya Ratham" after NTR launched his party and undertook Statewide election tour in 1982. But driving remained his first love and he always preferred to drive his vehicles even when he was Transport Minister in the State.
Strangely elder son of Harikrishna Janaki Ram died in a road accident a few years back in the same Nalgonda district. While his another son and one of the most popular Telugu film heroes NTR Junior had a very narrow escape in another road accident in 2009 in the same Nalgonda district.
Harikrishna's younger brother N Balakrishna is another popular Telugu film actor and TDP MlA from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh.
His son NTR Junior is among the most popular heroes of Telugu films. Other son Kalyan Ram is also an actor.