The Telangana government has decided to extend state honours to former Member of Parliament and TDP politburo member Nandamuri Harikrishna, son of legendary actor and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh NTR, who died in a ghastly road accident in Nalgonda on Wednesday morning.
According to an official communication, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has instructed the officials to conduct the last rites of Harikrishna with official honours.
KCR directed Chief Secretary S K Joshi to discuss with the family members of late Harikrishna and make necessary arrangements.
It is a rare gesture on the part of KCR, because Harikrishna is not from Telangana and was also a strong opponent of Telangana formation by dividing combined Andhra Pradesh. In fact, Harikrishna resigned from his Rajya Sabha membership in protest against state bifurcation.
Yet, the Telangana chief minister wanted to show his respect towards Harikrishna, not just because he was his cabinet colleague in the past, but because he was NTR’s son.
Before KCR became the transport minister, the portfolio was held by Harikrishna. KCR had a strong reverence towards NTR, so much that he had named his son KTR after NTR.
And that could be the reason for KCR’s decision to extend official honours to Harikrishna, whose cremation is likely to be held in Hyderabad on Wednesday evening.
