Senior Congress leader and MLC Paladugu Venkata Rao (75) passed away here in the early hours of Monday.
Mr. Rao, who was ailing for some time, was admitted to a city hospital and he breathed his last on Monday. He is survived by wife Susheela.
The senior Congress leader’s mortal remains was kept at his residence in Old MLA Quarters and later at Indira Bhavan, the APCC headquarters in Gandhi Bhavan premises, for people to pay their last respects. It was later taken to Nuzvid where the last rites would be performed on Wednesday morning.
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A staunch Congress loyalist, the veteran leader always stood by the cause of the party. He did not mince words in faulting the leadership, if he felt some decisions were not in the interests of the party. His strong opposition to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was well appreciated by several political parties.
Born on November 11, 1940 in Krishna district, Mr. Rao joined active politics as Youth Congress leader in 1968 and made his electoral debut as a Member of Legislative Council in 1972 at a very young age. He won his maiden Assembly election from Nuzvid in 1978 and went on to serve as Minister for Rural Water Supply (1980-82), Agriculture Minister (1982) and Marketing Minister (1982-83).
After a brief gap, he returned to the Assembly having won the Nuzvid seat for the second time in 1989. After the revival of the Legislative Council during Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime, Mr. Rao was elected from the Assembly quota as an MLC in 2009. He was re-elected in 2011 for a six-year term. His tenure would have ended in 2017.
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Congress leaders remember him as a committed party leader, who took on the landlords in Krishna district for encroaching government and forest lands. He waged relentless battle against the encroachers and was successful to a large extent in ensuring that these lands were resumed by the government. He always strived for the socio-economic security and rise and development of the downtrodden and stood by them The late leader was also known for donating his residential building in Nuzvid to Andhra Pradesh Horticulture University to start a Rythu Seva Kendram. The building was used as an agriculture research centre and has been named after his late parents Paladugu Lakshmaiah and Nagaratnamma.
Several Congress leaders paid their last respects to the departed leader. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy, Telangana PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah, YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Congress Legislature Party leader in Telangana Assembly K. Jana Reddy, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Council D. Srinivas, CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, State secretary K. Narayana, Lok Satta founder president N. Jayaprakash Narayan condoled his death.