PNS|Vijayawada
The ongoing ‘Yuva Galam’ padayatra led by TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh was cancelled for a few days on account of the demise of actor and politician Nandamuri Taraka Ratna on Saturday night at a Bangalore hospital. However, Nara Lokesh will be back in action from Tuesday February 21 and will commence the ‘padayatra’ from Satyavedu according to sources from the ‘Yuva Galam’ team.
Nandamuri Tarak Ratna was the cousin of Nara Lokesh and was actively participating in the TDP political activities for the past few weeks before the Yuva Galam padayatra commenced in Chittoor. In fact, Tarak Ratna wanted to contest next year’s Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh but passed away on Saturday night in Bangalore after suffering a cardiac arrest a few weeks back on January 27.
Actor Taraka Ratna, was overseeing the arrangements and the itinerary of Nara Lokesh’s ‘Yuva Galam’ walkathon at Kuppam, suffered a heart stroke and was rushed to the PES Medical College Hospital there, where he was declared out of danger.
Taraka Ratna was accompanying Lokesh, who was offering prayers at a couple of temples, a mosque and a church in Kuppam, after launching the Yuva Galam padayatra on January 27. As the entourage of Lokesh, which included actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, came out after offering prayers at the mosque, suddenly, Taraka Ratna showed signs of dizziness and collapsed to the ground.
He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Kuppam and later shifted to the PES Hospital nearby. The doctors performed CPR and angiogram on the actor and inserted a stent.
Balakrishna, who left the ‘padayatra’ midway, stayed with Taraka Ratna. The PES Hospital authorities and Balakrishna initially made efforts to airlift Taraka Ratna to a super-speciality hospital in Bengaluru but later shifted him by road. After 23 days Tarak breathed his last on Saturday night.
