Parakala Prabhakar | |
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 Parakala in 2015 | |
| Born | 2 January 1959 Narsapuram, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupations |
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| Known for | Communications advisor in the Andhra Pradesh Government |
| Spouse | Nirmala Sitharaman (m. 1986) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | www |
Parakala Prabhakar (born 2 January 1959) is an Indian political economist and social commentator. He served as Communications Advisor, held a cabinet rank position in Andhra Pradesh Government between July 2014 and June 2018. For several years he presented a current affairs discussion programme on television channels of Andhra Pradesh. His programmes, Pratidhwani on ETV2 and Namaste Andhra Pradesh on NTV.[1] He was also a former spokesman and one of the founding general secretaries of Praja Rajyam Party.[2] In the early 2000s, Parakala was the spokesperson of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP.[3] He is the spouse of the incumbent union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India, Nirmala Sitharaman
Parakala was born in a prominent Telugu Brahmin family[4] in Narsapuram, Andhra Pradesh. He belongs to Congress members' family. His mother, Parakala Kalikamba was a Member of Legislative Assembly in Andhra Pradesh, while his father, Parakala Seshavatharam, was a long time Legislator from Narasapuram and served in three successive Cabinets in the state of Andhra Pradesh in the 1970s and early 1980s. Parakala completed his doctorate from the London School of Economics. He did his Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
Prabhakar married Nirmala Sitharaman in 1986, who became the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India in Narendra Modi's cabinet. They have a daughter.
He was one of the founding members of the Praja Rajyam Party and was appointed as a spokesperson of the party.[5] However, in April 2009, he quit the party, a few months before the state election, citing disagreements with the party's functioning.[6]