Page 133 - Demo

The story goes that after the Mundhra episode, Jawaharlal Nehru took to the young PVG Raju and inquired about him. Coming to know of his background, he is said to have persuaded him to join the Congress and play a role in the development of Andhra Pradesh. Disillusioned by the failure of the Socialists to impact electoral politics, PVG Raju resigned from the Lok Sabha in 1959 and was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly as the Congress candidate in a bypoll for the Bheemunipatnam seat in 1960.In this period PVG Raju's personal life was also in turmoil. His wife Kusum and him separated in 1958 and divorced in 1963. When their parents were politically active, their children did not see much of either. Close family friends who were also with PVG Raju politically took it upon themselves to shower the three children with affection and attention. P Krishnamurthy Raju from Denkada, KVRS Padmanabh Raju from Alamanda, and PV Narasimha Raju from Jonnavalasa made sure that the home was well cared for. The latter was PVG Raju's personal assistant throughout his ministerial stint in Hyderabad.123