Last but not the least. Though NTR’s statue would be the last to be installed in the precincts of Parliament, the ceremony saw the who’s who of Indian political spectrum gathering at one place to pay tributes to one of the most iconic public personalities that the country has ever produced.
The 9.5 feet bronze statue was installed by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar at the Parliament Rajya Sabha Lobby in a convivial atmosphere today at 11.30 am.
See full video at the bottom
Top leaders from all parties were present on the occasion. These include:
Manmohan Singh, Ansari, Meira Kumar, Farooq Abdullah, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jaipal Reddy, Rajiv Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scindhia, L K Advani, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, Baalu, CPI Raja, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sitaram Yechuri, Gurudas Dasgupta, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Pallam Raju, Killi Kriparani, Ponnam Prabhakar, Manda Jagannadham, Sarvey Satyanarayana, Sharad Yadav, P J Kurien Gulam Nabi Azad, Rekha, Narayana Swamy and Sushma Swaraj
Chandrababu Naidu, Purandeswari, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, Mohan Babu, Balakrishna, Jr NTR, Harikrishna, Kalyan Ram, Jayaprada, Lakshmi Parvathi, Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, Yalamanchili Sivaji, Modugula Venugopala Reddy, Suresh Shetkar, CM Ramesh, Sujana Chowdary, Nama Nageswara Rao, Lal Jan Basha
Chiranjeevi came late but not seen in the video captured by Parliament videographer. UPA chief Sonia Gandhi was conspicuous by her absence. There were reports earlier that some Congress MPs including Panabaka Lakshmi, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Sai Pratap and Ananta Venktrama Reddy dissuaded Sonia from attending the function, since NTR was the fount of anti-Congressism in Andhra Pradesh.
The large attendance was testimony to the high regard in which national leaders held the memory of the late NTR in his brief political stint. The warring mwembers of NTR clan displayed some – even though forced – camaraderie in the get together that lasted nearly 15 minutes.
Jr NTR was briefly seen at the function, even as Purandeswari was spotted trying to avoid eye-to-eye contact with Chandrababu Naidu. Lakshmi Parvathi was all through grinning broadly and was seen in a happy mood trying to chat up with some national leaders.
Later, Purandeswari organized a book release function at Andhra Bhavan. “From Frames to Fame” was released by Venkaiah Naidu. NTR family members including Balakrishna – but not Harikrishna and Jr NTR – participated in the function.
