Veteran politician Nadella Bhaskar Rao, who founded the Telugu Desam Party with legendary Telugu actor N T Rama Rao in 1982 and served as chief minister of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state for one month in 1984, died at the age of 90 in Hyderabad on Wednesday after a long illness, his family members said.
He is survived by his son Nadendla Manohar, Andhra Pradesh Civil Supplies Minister and Jana Sena Party MLA from Tenali.
Bhaskar Rao was undergoing treatment for ventilator problems for the past month, a family member said, adding that he died around noon.
Born on 23 June 1935, Bhaskar Rao entered electoral politics in 1978 by winning the Vijayawada (East) Assembly seat on behalf of the Congress ticket and served as a minister in the Mari Channa Reddy government.
He collaborated with NT Rama Rao (NTR) to launch TDP in March 1982 and was considered NTR’s co-pilot as far as the party was concerned. After TDP came to power in January 1983, he joined the NTR government as Finance Minister.
However, differences arose between the two leaders, and when NTR was in the US for heart treatment in August 1984, Bhaskar Rao staged a coup with the support of a few TDP MLAs and became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 16 August.
On NTR’s return, he launched the ‘Save Democracy’ movement across the state, with support from parties like the BJP and the Communists. Bhaskar Rao was unable to achieve his majority on the House floor and stepped down from office on 16 September.
He later joined the Congress, and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1988 from Khammam, which he later lost in 1999. On 6 July 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
