Tamil superstar Rajinikanth arrived Vijayawada on Friday to participate in centenary celebrations of legendary actor-politician Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who was popularly known as NTR. Nandamuri Balakrishna had earlier announced that the centenary celebrations of his father will take place in Vijayawada on April 28 and will be graced by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Rajinikanth, who was spotted at Gannavaram airport there today where Balayya warmly receiving him.
He will be attending the event scheduled to be held on Friday evening in the city. Balayya has invited fans to come out and take part in the celebrations. The arrangements for the event are currently being looked after by Balayya's team. He personally went to the Vijayawada airport today to welcome Rajinikanth. Also, he gifted the superstar an orange shawl.
NTR, who enjoyed the status of demigod among Telugu-speaking people, was a legendary actor of Tollywood. He acted in over 300 films and was known for doing the role of mythological characters. NTR played Lord Krishna in over 17 films including Krishnarjuna Yudham (1962) and Dana Veera Soora Karna. He entered politics in 1982 by floating TDP on the slogan of self-respect and created a record of sorts by coming to power within nine months.
Born on May 28, 1923 in Andhra Pradesh, NTR served as Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1983 to 1989. He led the TDP back to power with a landslide victory in December 1994 but few months later faced a revolt from his son-in-law Chandrabu Naidu, who was unhappy over the interference of NTR's second wife Lakshmi Parvathi in the party and administrative affairs.
Supported by NTR's children from first wife, Naidu unseated NTR from power in September 1995. The TDP founder died of cardiac arrest on January 18, 1996.
