Veteran freedom fighter and Telangna Praja Samithi president Bhupathi Krishnamurthy died here late last night. He was 89 and is survived by a son and daughter. A procession was taken out by his supporters, TRS workers and general public from his residence in Girimajipet to cremation grounds
at SRR Thota on Warangal outskirts. He was cremated with full state honours.
Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, district Collector Vakati Karuna, Superintendent of Police A K Jha and MLAs, MPs and large number of people paid their last respects to Krishnamurthy who is popularly known as Telangana Gandhi. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi since pre-independence days and brought Gandhi to Warangal those days. Mr Krishnamurthy fought against British, Nizam rulers and the feudal lords of the region.
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He was actively involved in separate Telangana struggle. He strongly opposed merger of Telangana into Andhra Pradesh State in 1950s. Throughout his life, he remained a staunch supporter of separate Telangana and contested as Warangal MLA three times but lost with narrow margins. TPS general secretary Aruru Bhaskara Chary who is a close associate of Krishnamurthy said the latter was offered ticket by P V Narasimha Rao and NT Rama Rao but he refused on ideological grounds.