Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, Former Andhra Pradesh Speaker, Commits Suicide At Hyderabad Home

Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker, allegedly committed suicide at his posh Banjara Hills home. Rao had reportedly attempted suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Hyderabad. He was rushed to nearby hospital in an unconscious state. Doctors tried to revive him and he was also put on ventilator. However, Rao couldn’t be resuscitated and died on Monday. The 72-year-old was among the prominent Telugu Desam Party leaders in Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, Rao became Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker after the bifurcation of the state to carve out Telangana.

The six-time MLA - he won from Narsaraopet five times and Sattenapalli in 2014 - has also served as a minister multiple times. Rao’s political journey began in 1983 after he joined the TDP almost four decades ago. TDP National General Secretary Ram Mohan Naidu K expressed his shock and disbelief on Twitter. “Shocked and devastated to know that Dr Kodela Siva Prasad garu is no more. May his soul rest in peace,” Ram Mohan Naidu K said on micro-blogging site. Kodela Siva Prasada Rao also served as home minister in NTR government in 1985.

Rao was reportedly suffering from depression for quite sometime now. He was in news recently over the allegations of ‘shifting’ expensive furniture from the old Assembly building to his house. It was the charge that he later admitted. He was booked under the Indian Penal Code section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property). A statement from the Telangana Chief Minister’s office said, "Chief Minister KCR expressed shock over the death of former Andhra Pradesh Speaker Kodela Sivaprasad. He expressed deep sympathy to his family. He prayed to the Lord to bring peace to his soul."

In 2016, former chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh and veteran Congress leader Kalhiko Pul was found dead at his residence in Itanagar. Pul had allegedly committed suicide and hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his bedroom, at the chief minister’s official residence which he was yet to vacate. Pul, the eighth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, was born on 20 July 1969 and belonged to a small village, Hallaw from Anjaw district in the state.