Paladugu Venkata Rao, former Minister of Andhra Pradesh, died

Paladugu Venkata Rao on 18 January 2015 died. He was 75. He was a former Minister of Andhra Pradesh and a senior Congress leader.

At the time of his death, he was serving as Member of Legislative Council for second time. His term was to end in 2017.

Born in November 1940 in Krishna district, he joined active politics as Youth Congress leader in 1968 and made his electoral debut as a Member of Legislative Assembly from Nuzvid constituency in 1978.

He 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 and won the Nuzvid seat for the second time in 1989.

After the revival of the Legislative Council during Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime, he was elected from the Assembly quota as an MLC in 2009. He was re-elected again in 2011 for a six year term.

The veteran leader is 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.