Veteran BJP leader and former Sikkim governor V. Rama Rao died at a city hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday after prolonged illness.
He was 81. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter-in-law.
Rao was suffering from severe lung infection and was hospitalised about a month ago.
Rao was a lawyer and practised at the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He was elected as MLC on four occasions in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Legislature. While he served for three full terms in 1966, 1972 and 1978, the Legislative Council was abolished during his fourth term after his election from Graduates Constituency in 1984. During his last term, he served as party floor leader in the Council. He was also imprisoned during Emergency.
Rao, who joined the Jan Sangh in 1956, was BJP national vice-president. He was twice State unit chief in united Andhra Pradesh from 1992-96. He also was a member of the BJP national executive and more recently a member of the core committee of the Telangana BJP.
He served as Sikkim Governor from October 25, 2002 to October 25, 2007.
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Seetharaman, several BJP leaders, retired judges and others visited his residence and paid homage to the departed leader.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N.Chandrababu Naidu, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Y.S. Chowdhary, Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya and Telangana BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy expressed their grief over the death of Rao and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family members.
The mortal remains of Rao would be kept at the BJP State headquarters for the people to pay their last respects on Monday morning.
