Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy on Wednesday said that religious scholar Chaganti Koteswara Rao’s discourses were helping lakhs of people to know the greatness of epics incuding Ramayanam, Mahabharatam and others. On behalf of Gurajada Samskritika Samakhya, he presented the prestigious Gurajada Apparao’s Visistha Puraskaram to Mr. Koteswara Rao in a function organised on the premises of Jnana Saraswati temple in Vizianagaram. He was felicitated and presented a memento under this prestigious award which was established in 2000
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Veerabhadra Swamy said that Mr. Koteswara Rao was the right person for the award since he was trying to bring the necessary changes in the society on the lines of Gurajada who had had exposed superstitions prevailing in those days. Mr. Koteswara Rao thanked him for the selecting the award which was previously presented to great personalities including J.V. Somayajulu, Gollapudi Marutirao, K.Viswanath, Tanikella Bharani, Garikipati Narasimha Rao and others. Mr. Koteswara Rao said that he had a lot of respect on Gurajada since he urged people to move in the right path through his books including famous ‘Kanyasulkam.’
Eminent writer Chengalva Ramalakshmi, who had done a Ph.D on Gurajada writings, said that Gurajada’s writings would continue to inspire future generations as he had penned many books with a great vision.
‘Unwarranted controversy’
The Samakhya president P.V.Narasimha Raju, General Secretary Kapuganti Prakash thanked Mr. Koteswara Rao for accepting the award although some people tried to create unwarranted controversy over his selection.
In the morning, Samakhya members and several writers offered floral tributes to Gurajada’s statue on the occasion Gurajada’s death anniversary. The samakhya felicitated Ms.Ramalakshmi and writer Sekhar Mantri Prabhakar of Visakhapatnam on the occasion. Senior writers Jakku Ramakrishna, Manapragada Sahithi and others organised poems’ competition and gave away prizes to winners of various districts.
