Veteran Politician, Former AP Minister Yadlapati Venkata Rao Passes Away At 102

HYDERABAD/TENALI: Veteran political leader from Tenali and a  former minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh Yadlapati Venkata Rao passed away due to old age in Hyderabad early on Monday.  He was 102 years old. He breathed his last in his daughter Jeeta Ravishree’s residence in Hyderabad, where he had been staying for some time now.

His body will be brought to his home in Burripalem Road at  Tenali for his followers to pay their last respects. Venkat Rao's wife Alimelumangamma died last year. His son Jayaram and daughter-in-law Himakumari had also predeceased him. Yadlapati Venkat Rao's funeral will be held in Tenali on Wednesday, family members said.

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu paid tributes to the leader’s body at his residence in Hyderabad and will also attend the funeral in Tenali tomorrow. YSRCP Tenali MLA Annabathuni Sivakumar, YSRCP town president Desu Srinivasa Rao, leaders of various parties including  Nannapaneni Rajkumari, Dr Gogineni Uma, Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar, Dr Rayapati Srinivas, Nakka Anandababu, Patibandla Ramakrishna, Dasari Balavardhana Rao, and others also paid tributes to the veteran leader.

Profile and political career

Yadlapati Venkat Rao was born on December 16, 1919, into a farmer’s family in Bodapadu village at Amruthaluru Mandal near Tenali in Guntur district. After his high school education in Thurumella, he completed his  BA from AC College in Guntur. He later studied law at Chennai in 1941 and practiced as a lawyer in Tenali from 1945 to 1973 and joined active politics since his legal practice days.

He made his political debut with the Independent Party founded by Acharya N G Ranga whom he was a close associate. He contested from the Vemuru constituency and lost twice in 1962 and in the 1965  general elections. He later won in 1967 as a Congress MLA. Yadlapati was later elected to the Legislative Assembly twice in a row, set a record as an MLA to score a hat-trick in that constituency as a Congress leader.

He served as the Minister of Agriculture and Law in late Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy’s Cabinet between 1978 and 1980. He was elected as the founding president of the Sangam Milk Dairy which was established in 1977 at Vadlamudi. He joined the Telugu Desam Party in 1983 and functioned as its farmers' unit head for many years. He also served as a politburo member of the TDP and served as the party district president for ten years. In 1995, he was elected as the Chairman of Guntur Zilla Parishad and was later elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1998.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu mourned the death of Yedlapati Venkatrao. Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, several MPs, and leaders also expressed their condolences over the demise of the veteran Andhra politician.

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