Padmaja Naidu was born in Hyderabad to a Telugu Balija father and a Bengali Brahmin mother.
[3] At the age of 21, she co-founded the Indian National Congress in the Nizam ruled princely state of Hyderabad.
[5] Early in her life, Padmaja was a close friend of Ruttie Petit who married Muhammad Ali Jinnah, later the founder of Pakistan.
[7] Pandit later told Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi's friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years.
[10][6] After retiring, Padmaja lived until her death in 1975 in a bungalow on the Teen Murti Bhavan estate, Prime Minister Nehru's official residence and later a museum dedicated to his memory.