HYDERABAD: Telugu film personalities, politicians and others on Thursday bid a tearful adieu to TDP politburo member Nandamuri Harikrishna, whose mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours.

Harikrishna, who died in a road accident a day earlier, was the fourth son of actor-politician N.T. Rama Rao, the founder of Telugu Desam Party and former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Harikrishna’s eldest actor son Kalyan Ram lit the funeral pyre amid chanting of hymns at Mahaprasthanam crematorium in Jubliee Hills here in the presence of a large number of mourners, including his other son Tarak Ram, popularly known as Junior NTR, brother-in-law and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, actor brother Balakrishna, and former Supreme Court judge J. Chelameswar.

An armed contingent of Telangana Police reversed arms as the bugle sounded the Last Post as a mark of respect to Harikrishna, who died three days before his 62nd birthday.

Poignant scenes were witnessed at the funeral, attended by Ministers from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, leaders of TDP, Tollywood celebrities and fans.

Earlier, the body was put on a flower-bedecked vehicle and taken to the cremation ground from Harikrishna’s house in Mehdipatnam by a procession of hundreds of people, with Chandrababu Naidu, Chelameswar and close family members acted as pall-bearers.

The former MP and former Andhra Pradesh Minister died on Wednesday when a SUV he was driving overturned in Telangana’s Nalgonda district.

Harikrishna was popular as ‘sarathi’ or charioteer of his father’s ‘Chaitanya Ratham’, the name of the vehicle on which NTR toured the state after floating the TDP in 1982.

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Senior Journalist turned director B Jaya (51) died on Thursday evening. She succumbed to health issues she has been suffering from a long time.

B Jaya started her career as columnist for Andhra Jyothy. Her first film as director is Chantigadu in 2003 with Baladitya and Suhasini. She made films Gundammagari Manavadu, Premikulu, Saval and Lovely in recent years. Vaisakham was her last film. B Jaya introduced Kamna Jemalani and Shanvi Srivatsava to Telugu film industry.

Jaya’s husband BA Raju is a famous journalist and PRO.

While Telugu film industry is struggling to digest the fact that Nandamuri Hari Krishna passed away, B Jaya’s death shocked everyone.

That NTR and Kodali Nani have been good friends for years is a well known fact. Nani had played a crucial role in NTR’s rise as a star. Many thought that there were clashes between NTR and Nani and that their friendship ended after Nani joined YSRCP.

But now, as NTR lost his father, Nani stood firmly behind him and gave him the much needed emotional support. As soon as Nani was informed about Harikrishna’s accident, he immediately rushed to the Kamineni Hospital in Nalgonda. Since then, he stood by NTR and proved what real friendship is.

Nani carried Harikrishna’s mortal remains when they reached the Nandamuri veteran’s Hyderabad residence. Later, interacting with the media, Nani expressed his shock over Harikrishna’s passing and said that it was Harikrishna who made him the President of Krishna district’s Telugu Yuvatha. “If not for Harikrishna, I would have had no political career,” said Nani.