Hyderabad: Thousands of people in the city on Thursday joined the funeral procession of Nandamuri Harikrishna who died in a car mishap on Wednesday in Nalgonda district.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is the brother-in-law of Mr Harikrishna, and retired Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, his close friend, were the pall-bearers in his last journey.
The procession went on for over two hours from his residence in Mehdipatnam to Maha Prasthanam in Jubilee Hills.
Telangana state government accorded full state honours for the funeral. Mr Harikrishana’s elder son and actor Kalyan Ram lit the funeral pyre. Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav announced that the TS government would allot 450 sq.yards in Maha Prasthanam in Jubilee Hills for the construction of Harikrishna Memorial (Smrithi Vanam) with government funds.
Though there were reports that ‘Chaitanya Ratham,’ would be used for the funeral procession, it was not done. TD party sources said the Chaitanya Ratham was not in running condition. And also because the state government accorded state honours for the funeral, the vehicle arranged by the government needed to be used, it was pointed out.
In the 1980s when his father and legendary actor N.T. Rama Rao launched the Telugu Desam party, Mr Harikrishna famously drove the Chaitanya Ratham covering the entire 23 districts of undivided AP for over 73,000 kilometres on the campaign tour of NTR.
Mr Naidu and Justice Jasti Chelameswar were among those who travelled in the truck carrying the mortal remains of Harikrishna. They also carried the mortal remains of Harikrishna along with the members of the Nandamuri family at his residence and also at the cremation grounds.
Huge crowds gathered for the funeral procession on either sides of the roads all along the stretch from Mehdipatnam to Jubilee Hills to have a final glimpse of the departed TDP leader and actor.
Among those who led the procession were his sons and actors Kalyan Ram and Junior NTR, his younger brother, actor and MLA Balakrishna.
Earlier in the day, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, top politicians of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Telugu film personalities paid their last respects to Mr Harikrishna at his residence.
Actors Nagarjuna, Arjun, Jagapati Babu and director Raghvendra Rao were among the film personalities who paid their last respects.
