Taking up big responsibilities around the same time, these two have become the new power couple in the country. If Nirmala Sitharaman, the wife, is busy running the country in her capacity as union minister of state for commerce and industry, Parakala Prabhakar, her husband, has been entrusted the responsibility of furthering the development of Andhra Pradesh in his latest avatar as communications advisor to chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

It was a meeting of the minds when the two encountered each other in Jawaharlal Nehru University in the early eighties. A Tamil Iyengar Brahmin from Trichirapalli, Nirmala is the daughter of Narayanan Sitaraman, a railway employee, and Savitri. She graduated in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami college in Trichi before she headed to JNU to do her master’s and doctorate in economics. Parakala, a Telugu Brahmin from Narsapur in coastal Andhra, is the son of Seshavataram, a veteran communist who later gravitated to the Congress and served as a five time minister in AP. Parakala could not pursue politics successfully in the footsteps of his father and joined JNU to study economics.

As members of Freethinkers, a JNU forum that discussed right-wing and left-wing politics among many things, the two got close and ended up getting married. They then left for London where Parakala Nirmala went on to do his PhD from the London School of Economics, while Nirmala worked for some time as sales woman in a decor shop and later as a researcher on East-European economies for Price Waterhouse Cooper.

The early nineties saw them return to Hyderabad and Narsapur after the birth of their daughter, the only child. Parakala set up a marketing research agency in Hyderabad, a trust in memory of his father, and along with Nirmala, started a school Pranava.

Parakala contested unsuccessfully from Narsapur on the Congress ticket in 1994 but went on to develop close ties with former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. From the Congress, Parakala joined the BJP and finally, in 2008, went on to became a founding member of the Prajarajyam party along with actor-turned politician Chiranjeevi, before leaving in disillusionment.

Chandrababu Naidu is believed to have invited Parakala to join the TDP and after the party’s victory, he joined the government as its communications advisor.

Nirmala was nominated to the National Commission for Women during the NDA regime under Atal Behari Vajpayee, but her term ended abruptly when the UPA took over in Delhi. She returned to Hyderabad to start a policy research centre and then a school for the underprivileged in a village. In between, she got involved with the Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

Nirmala finally joined the BJP in 2006.

Andhra Pradesh and Naidu are expecting a lot from this power couple. While Niramala’s help is needed to get investments and SEZs in Andhra Pradesh, Parakala has to play a key role in shaping Naidu’s developmental politics at a critical juncture. It is in the expectation that Nirmala will do something for AP that Naidu went out of his way to offer the Rajya Sabha seat from Andhra Pradesh to her. As for Parakala, sources said he has been given the responsibility of defending the party’s policies on various forum as the TDP has limited speakers who can effectively communicate in both English and Hindi also.

At least for the next five years both at the centre and in Andhra Pradesh, all eyes will be on this power couple who could play a key role in the growth of the country and state of AP.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / July 21st, 2014