NTR's family members cross swords

Hyderabad: Ahead of assembly and Lok Sabha elections, a war of words has broken out in the family of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Rama Rao, or NTR.
Congress legislator and NTR's elder son-in-law D. Venkateshwara Rao Friday gave a detailed account of how N. Chandrababu Naidu "backstabbed" NTR in August 1995 to usurp power. Venkateshwara Rao, whose wife D. Purandareswari is a Congress MP and a central minister, revealed that Naidu offered him the post of deputy chief minister to support him in the coup against NTR.
Naidu, who now heads TDP, led a revolt against his father-in-law and then chief minister NTR to seize power.
Venkateshwara Rao told a news conference that he had written a tell-all book detailing the events of August 1995. He said he would release both the Telugu and English versions of "The Other Side Of The Truth" after the election.
"I will release the book after things cooled down." He announced his plans to release the book close on the heels of making his letter addressed to N. Balakrishna public.
Venkateshwara Rao, in his letter, made a sensational revelation that in his last days NTR had asked Balakrishna, NTR's son and actor, to "kill Chandrababu Naidu for his treachery and show him (NTR) the blood stained sword.
"(Naidu) offered me the post of deputy chief minister and promised to make Harikrishna (NTR's another son) TDP general secretary," he said. "My wife pleaded with me not to go to Viceroy Hotel, I committed an unforgivable sin by not listening to her and going there," he said.
It was at the Viceroy Hotel in Hyderabad that Naidu had planned the coup and kept all his loyal legislators there.
Venkateshwara Rao said that he was thankful to god that within 15 days of the coup he went back to NTR and was with him in his last days. NTR, the matinee idol who created a history of sorts by coming to power within nine months after floating TDP in 1982, died in 1996.