Harikrishna, who had a knack for driving, drove his father's "Chaitanya Ratham" (chariot of consciousness), a revamped and customised green Chevrolet with registration number ABR 7776 during his father's political campaignings.[5] The vehicle was reportedly used to campaign over 75,000 kms and assumed mammoth significance in the state's politics.[6] Outspoken and rebellious by nature,[citation needed] Harikrishna was instrumental in staging the 1995 coup that dethroned his father N. T. Rama Rao during Chief Ministership of N. T. Rama Rao alongside N. Chandrababu Naidu, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and Nandamuri Balakrishna.[7] He served as the member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly during 1996–1999 as the elected MLA from Hindupur Assembly constituency. He became a Cabinet Minister for Road Transport in 1996. In a historic move, he opened the doors for women in the State Road Transport Corporation. Hundreds of women were hired as bus conductors.[8] However, following rifts with Naidu, he floated his own Anna Telugu Desam Party in 1999 but returned to his previous party in 2006 after the ATDP failed to win a single seat in the 1999 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.[9] He shared a bittersweet relationship with his brother-in-law Naidu, often expressing displeasure about his son N. T. Rama Rao Jr. being ignored for the party ranks.[10] In 2008, he was a candidate of the Telugu Desam Party and was elected to Rajya Sabha.[citation needed] In 2013, he renounced his Rajya Sabha seat as a mark of protest against the then United Progressive Alliance government's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.[11]
Harikrishna married Lakshmi Kumari on 22 February 1973 and they have two sons, Janaki Ram and Kalyan Ram, and a daughter, Suhasini. He later married Shalini Bhaskar Rao, a Kannadiga from Kundapur, in 1981. They have one son, Taraka Ram. His elder son, Janaki Ram, died in a road mishap, on 6 December 2014.[12][additional citation(s) needed]
Death
Harikrishna died in a car crash in Nalgonda district, Narketpally, on 29 August 2018 at the age of 61. He was driving at a high speed without a seat belt on his way to the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a private ceremony of his friend, accompanied by two others. His Toyota Fortuner crashed into a road median on Nalgonda district Highway near Narkatpally when he bent over to pick up a water bottle.[13]
His son Janaki Ram died on the same highway in 2014.[14] Janakiram was a Telugu movie producer under the N. T. R. Arts banner who also met a tragic death in a road crash while travelling alone from Vijayawada to Hyderabad. Reports say that, his car collided with a tractor near Akumpamala village in Munagala mandal of Nalgonda district. He was rushed to a private hospital in Kodad, where he died of internal bleeding.[15]
