Scion of Vizianagaram royal family, former State Minister and MP Pusapati Anand Gajapathi Raju passed away here on Saturday. He was 65 and is survived by wife and a daughter. Union Civil Aviation Minster Ashok Gajapathi Raju is his younger brother.
Anand was elder son of Raja Saheb of Vizianagaram P.V.G. Raju. He was Minister in N.T. Rama Rao's cabinets twice and was elected from Bobbili Parliamentary constituency twice, one on Congress ticket and later on Telugu Desam ticket. He had also contested from Visakhapatnam to the Lok Sabha.
Anand became chairman of MANSAS after his father's demise. MANSAS is a trust formed by the late PVG Raju to run several educational and other institutions. Anand was also a journalist and worked with THE HINDU for a few years. He was hereditary trustee of 108 temples established or supported by the Vizianagaram royal family, including the Simhachalam Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, Ramatheerthalu temple near Vizianagaram, and other temples.
The former Minister was ailing for some time and was having respirator problem, cardiologist of Manipal Hospital Bhaskar Rao said. Anand was brought to the hospital from his residence on the beach road around 7.45 a.m. but all efforts to revive him have failed and he was declared dead around 8.30 a.m.
Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju reached here from Hyderabad on hearing the news. Anand's wife Sudha and daughter were present at the hospital. Principals of colleges run by the MANSAS, Executive Officer of Simhachalam Devasthanam Ramachandra Mohan and others paid their respects to Anand's body at the hospital.
Later the body was shifted to the fort at Vizianagaram and the last rites would be performed at a site behind the fort and on the bank of Peddacheruvu where the last rites of members of the royal family are traditionally performed.
