Former Assembly Speaker P Ramachandra Reddy Passes Away

Ramachandra Reddy passes away.He was the Assembly Speaker of unified Andhra Pradesh between 1989 and 1993.Patlola Ramachandra Reddy, former assembly speaker and industries minister from 1989 to 1993 in the unified Andhra Pradesh and five-time MLA from Sangareddy passed away on Saturday night. He was 89 years.

His mortal remains will be kept at his residence in Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar, Hyderabad for the people to pay respects. The last rites will be performed at Mahaprasthanam, Jubilee Hills, Wisper Valley, Hyderabad this evening.

Ramachandra Reddy was native of Marepally in Kondapur mandal.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed his deep condolences over the demise of Ramachandra Reddy and recalled his long association with him. He said that Ramachandra Reddy was known all over the country as the first generation of political leaders who have worked for strengthening the Panchayat Raj institutions. He conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved family.

The Chief Minister has instructed Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi to organise the official funeral for Ramachandra Reddy’s mortal remains.

Ramachandra Reddy is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter.

Born on December 3, 1929, in a middle class agriculture family at Marepally village in Kondapur mandal of Sangareddy district, he had his primary education at Sangareddy and secondary education at Medak. He has completed his BA followed by LLB at Osmania University.

He started his practice at Hyderabad in 1956 and later shifted to Sangareddy. He carried on lucrative practice along with involvement in politics.

He was inspired by Swami Ramananda Tirtha and others of the Congress party in erstwhile Hyderabad State. He was student leader and participated in the struggle against the Nizam’s autocratic rule and was imprisoned. He was elected as the president of Patancheru Panchayat Samithi in 1957 which was selected on experimental basis for the introduction of panchayat raj system under Balawnat Rai Mehta report.

He was elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly in 1962, 1971, 1983, 1985 and 1989. He was also chairman of Industrial Development Corporation. In 1989, he was elected as the Speaker when Dr Marri Channa Reddy was the Chief Minister. Later, he joined the cabinet of N. Janardhan Reddy as Industries Minister.

Since 1999 he has disassociated from the Congress party and unsuccessfully contested against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate A Narendra in 2004. From then on he has confined only to home due to old age.