Family ties

As soon as new TDP Rajya Sabha member N Harikrishna took his seat after taking oath in the Upper House, a member sitting next to him pointed at his sister, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandareswari, sitting on the Treasury benches. Harikrishna promptly walked up to her. Tears rolling down her cheeks, Purandareswari warmly hugged Harikrishna, who had sided with their brother-in-law N Chandrababu when he led a coup against their father N T Rama Rao. Purandareswari and her husband Daggubati Venkateswara Rao are with the Congress. Even after Harikrishna returned to his seat, Purandeswari seemed unable to control her feelings and the sight of Harikrishna’s family members in the visitors’ gallery only made her more emotional. But this was almost to be expected with the prevailing mood in the NTR family, which is reuniting after an estrangement lasting 14 years. Purandareswari and her husband will, of course, stay in the Congress, but Naidu has won back Harikrishna, while N Balakrishna has vowed to campaign for the TDP in the next Assembly polls.