Parakala Prabhakar – Political economist and political commentator from Andhra Pradesh

Parakala Prabhakar is a veteran political economist and political commentator from the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Well-known politician and minister Nirmala Sitharaman is his wife. Born into a political family, his father Parakala Seshavatharam has also served as an MLA thrice and cabinet minister once, while his mother Parakala Kalikamba also served as a legislator once. Parakala Prabhakar is quite familiar in the political circles as well as news channels where he conducts discussion programs on politics and current affairs, and is also associated with shows, Namaste Andhra Pradesh on NTV, Pratidhwani on ETV2 etc.

Parakala Prabhakar was born in 1959 in Narsapuram of West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Born into a political family, he grew up in an atmosphere associated with politics affiliated to Indian National Congress. While studying at JNU, his active political journey as a political activist started, and he also got elected as student’s president, though got defeated to Students’ Union Elections to SFI. After his marriage, the couple moved to London. Once he returned in 1991, he got involved with politics once again. His family was closely associated with then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. With late 1990s, he switched his political affiliation to BJP. Officially he joined the party in 1997, along with his wife.

Parakala Prabhakar – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He served as Communications advisor in the Andhra Pradesh Government with cabinet rank since 2014. Later he quit the post after the opposition made a critical comment.

2. He was a fellow at JNU when he met his future wife Nirmala. She was doing her M Phil in International studies at JNU.

3. He was affiliated to a Congress political family of Andhra Pradesh, when she married him. Later he became active in BJP during Vajpayee’s rule. Nirmala also got interested in politics almost at the same time.

4. He was always against agitations for dividing Andhra Pradesh into two.