VISAKHAPATNAM: Gandhian and freedom fighter K.S. Sastry died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here on Tuesday night.
He was 94, and is survived by wife Ramanamma, a former Port Trust employee.
Sastry was admitted to the hospital after he fell down in his house on December 8.
Born in Peddapuram of East Godavari district, Sastry had his schooling in Rajahmundry and college education in Vizianagaram.
He was a student member of the Congress during the freedom movement, drawing inspiration from his sister’s husband Madduri Annapurnaiah. He was active in organising student protests in Rajahmundry in the 1930s.
Sastry quit studies while pursuing the Intermediate course. He was jailed during the Quit India movement in Visakhapatnam and Alipore. He also founded the Kasturba Reading Room in Vizianagaram in 1944.
Sastry later became a member of the Socialist Party, but returned to the Congress in 1960. He later joined the Janata Party in 1980, coming under the influence of Jayaprakash Narayan.
He headed several trade unions, including the one in Hindustan Shipyard, the then BHPV, the ferro alloys unit in Garividi, and Bobbili sugar factory.
He went on fast for 14 days when the sugar factory was proposed to be shifted. He also went on fast on BHPV issues.
In 1985, he founded the Gandhi Centre along with Digumarti Gopalaswamy and others, to spread Gandhi’s ideals and moral values.
A library was later set up in Ba-Bapu Bhavan with thousands of books on Gandhi and a children’s library.
Besides, he founded a trust to extend scholarship to students by spending his and that of his wife’s pension amounts.
