Madanapalle: The family drama and friction within the ‘NTR’ family was there for all to see when Daggubati and Nara families came face to face with each other during a joint public meeting of Telugu Desam and the Bharatiya Janata Party at Madanapalle in Chittoor districton Thursday.
All eyes were on TD supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu and his sister-in-law Daggubati Purandeswari as they faced each other, perhaps, for the first time in decades. Finding themselves under public glare and in the presence of Narendra Modi, Pawan Kalyan and other leaders, Mr Naidu and Mrs Purandeswari greeted each other ‘formally’ to effectively display that all is well between them.
The decade long family feud between the Daggubati and Nara family, ever since the ouster of Daggubati family from the TD fold, reached an ‘adjustment’ when the TD-BJP alliance was forged just months ago. Mrs Purandeswari, who joined the BJP after shifting loyalty from the Congress, had to fall in line like all the BJP leaders on account of the alliance.
Mrs Purandeswari had adjusted to the development and announced recently that she never treated Mr Naidu as a foe.
She had gone a step ahead in heaping praises on the TD chief for his hard work and his vision for development, during her campaigns in Mr Naidu’s home district, which falls under the Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency from where she has been fielded. Yet, the friction between the two relatives was very much evident as they sat far from each other on the dais.
The TD chief while appealing to the voters to strengthen the candidates fielded by the TD-BJP combine did not make any ‘special mention’ about his sister-in-law but announced her name like any other nominee. Whereas, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, pitched strongly for NTR’s daughter, the founder of the Telugu Desam, recalling his services to the Telugus in the capacity as chief minister of the state.
Mr Modi also pointed out to the voters of the Rajampet LS constituency that NTR had proclaimed himself the adopted son of Rayalaseema so it was the responsibility of the people of Rayalaseema to send Mrs Purandeswari to Parliament from Rajampet.
