Former Andhra Pradesh Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao dies after alleged suicide attempt

Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao died at a private hospital on Monday afternoon.

News agency ANI said Kodela had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Hyderabad.

His family members immediately shifted him to Nandamuri Basavarama Tarakam Hospitals at Banjara Hills, where the doctors kept him on ventilator and tried to resuscitate him. He died at around 12.15 pm.

Doctors have not yet issued any bulletin on the cause of his death.

Kodela, as the former Speaker is popularly known, was 72. He is survived by his wife Sasikala, son Shivaram and daughter Vijayalakshmi. His younger son died a couple of years ago.

A medical doctor by profession, Kodela had been associated with the TDP right from its inception in 1982 and was a close follower of former chief minister and party founder N T Rama Rao.

He had been elected as a legislator from Narasaraopet assembly constituency in Guntur district continuously for five times since 1983 and was an MLA from Sattenapalli between 2014 and 2019. He was a cabinet minister during NTR and Chandrababu Naidu regimes, holding portfolios of home, panchayat raj and major irrigation.

He was the first speaker of the residuary Andhra Pradesh state assembly in his last term. In the recent assembly elections, Kodela lost to YSR Congress party candidate Ambati Rambabu in Sattenapalli.

Kodela had been in a state of depression after he lost the elections. He was recently booked by the Thullur police in Guntur for allegedly diverting furniture worth Rs 2 crore from the assembly to his residence and camp office. He challenged the case in the court, stating that he had written to the government to take back the furniture or recover the cost of it. The case is still pending in the court.

First Published: Sep 16, 2019 13:32 IST