Nandamuri Harikrishna, fourth son of Telugu Desam Party founder and legendary actor late N T Rama Rao, died in a ghastly road accident near Anneparthi of Nalgonda district of Telangana on Wednesday morning.
The accident took place at around 6.05 am, when a Toyota Fortuner car which he was driving at a speed of 160 km per hour, overturned after hitting the road divider and ramming into another vehicle on the other side of the highway, causing grievous injuries to his head.
He was immediately shifted to Kamineni super speciality hospital at Narketpalli, a few kilometres away, where he breathed his last at around 7.45 am.
Harikrishna started off from his Hyderabad residence to Nellore at around 4.30 am in the morning to attend a marriage. He was personally driving the car.
Harikrishna’s brother-in-law and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, expressed shock over the incident. He immediately left for the hospital along with his minister-son Nara Lokesh.
Harikrishna represented Hindupur assembly constituency in the past and was also a member of the TDP politburo, the highest decision making body. He was also a Rajya Sabha member twice. In 2014, he resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Harikrishna is survived by his two wives Shalini and Lakshmi and two sons junior NTR and Kalyan Ram and a daughter Suhasini. His first son Janakiram died in a similar road accident a four years ago.
Junior NTR, a leading hero in Tollywood, also met with a similar road accident during 2009 assembly elections campaign, but he survived miraculously.
He was driving NTR's Chaitanya Ratham, the political campaign vehicle. He was considered very good at manoeuvring and skilful driving. He was also a very popular actor.
While his brother Nandamuri Balakrishna is popular Telugu hero and now an MLA of the TDP, Harikrishna also acted in several films, including Sri Krishnavataram, Tatamma Kala, Dana Veera Soora Karna, Sriramulayya, Sitarama Raju, Seetayya, Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo etc.