MPs Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Sai Pratap, Ananta Venkatarami Reddy and others met the party chief on Monday and urged her not to attend the statue unveiling, as NTR had fought the Congress all his life.

It may be mentioned here that the statue of NTR was erected at the entrance to Rajya Sabha in the Parliament premises and Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar would be unveiling it on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, TDP MPs led by Nama Nageswara Rao met the Speaker here on Monday and lodged a formal protest at the party chief Chandra Babu Naidu not getting an official invitation for the function.

However, the late leader’s widow Lakshmi Parvathi was ignored, triggering a row.

Naidu received the invitation hours after a delegation of TDP MPs met Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar to lodge a protest that their leader was not being invited to the ceremony.

Later, NTR’s daughter and union minister D. Purandeswari also told reporters in Delhi that invitations were sent to Naidu and his wife Bhuvaneswari.

TDP MP N. Nageswara Rao said Naidu, who received the invitation from the office of the speaker, would be attending the ceremony. He said though Purandeswari and the Congress were playing politics over the issue, Naidu decided to attend the ceremony as it was aimed at honouring their party founder.

Earlier, Naidu, who claims to inherit the political legacy of the late leader, and the TDP founder’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi, complained that they had not received invitations to the ceremony. Both of them blamed Purandeswari.

NTR’s family has been wrangling over the installation of the statue for 13 long years.

Purandeswari, who joined the Congress party in 2004, now serves as minister of state at the centre for the second term. She donated the nine-foot-three-inch tall bronze statue, which weighs 900 kg.

NTR’s son and film actor N. Balakrishna hit back at his sister and defended Naidu, who blamed his successor Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for not donating the statue.

Balakrishna, whose daughter is married to Naidu’s son, is also likely to attend the ceremony. NTR’s elder son N. Harikrishna and grandson and popular actor Junior NTR are flying to Delhi to be present during the ceremony.

Lakshmi Parvathi has threatened to move court over the issue. “If the speaker doesn’t invite the wife of the leader whose statue is being installed, she is unfit to hold the key post,” NTR’s widow said, also blaming Purandeswari for not being invited.

After NTR’s death in January 1996, Parvathi went into political oblivion. Purandeswari, her husband D. Venkateshwara Rao and some other family members targeted Naidu on many occasions for what they call “backstabbing” NTR.

A popular actor, NTR had floated the TDP in 1982 on the slogan of “Telugu self-respect”. Creating a record of sorts, he came to power within nine months of the formation of the TDP, ending the monopoly of the Congress party in state politics.

With pro-poor schemes like the Rs.2-per-kg rice and total prohibition, NTR went on to become the most popular politician in the state’s history.

The court which the heard the arguments of the CBI’s counsel Ashok Bhan who said Jagan should not be given bail as the investigation was in a key stage and Jagan’s lawyers Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi who charged the CBI of overstepping his authority, reserved the judgment.

The supreme court judge asked the CBI to state why extension of Jagan’s custody was necessary.

Jagan’s lawyers  had pointed that the CBI putting forth contradictory arguments in the high court and the Supreme Court. Stating that being a MP and the president of a political party Jagan would not run away, Jagan’s counsel asked for at least interim bail.

Senior lawyers Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi who argued Jagan’s case, pointed that the CBI told the high court that Jagan’s custody was needed on seven issues and in the Supreme Court that no custody was needed. They asked why Jagan was kept in jail for nearly one year.

Arguing the case on behalf of the CBI, Ashok Bhan said that conclusion of Jagan’s case would take four to six months more. The lawyer said that presently investigation was on, on the investments into Jagan’s companies from abroad and bail should not be issued at this juncture. The lawyer also said that CBI sleuths sought information from 6 countries about the investments and were even visiting these countries to know the facts.

Jagan’s lawyers pointed out that as a party chief he has to prepare his party for elections and pleaded that at least interim bail should be given to him.