‘Kadapa NTR’ Paladugu Rama Naidu, lifelong TDP loyalist, dies at 67

Paladugu Rama Naidu, a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) follower from its inception, died at Kondayapalle in Kadapa on Tuesday (April 28, 2026). He was 67.

Known to admirers as ‘Kadapa NTR’, Mr. Rama Naidu often dressed up as the party’s founder and former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao at TDP meetings and conventions. In yellow robes, the party’s colour, he was, to many in the cadre, a stand-in for NTR himself.