Former Karimnagar MLA Jagapathi Rao passes away

Jagapthi Rao, who was suffering with health problems for quite sometime, breathed his last while undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday night.

Karimnagar: Senior politician and former Karimnagar MLA Velichala Jagapathi Rao passed away. He was 87.

Jagapthi Rao, who was suffering with health problems for quite sometime, breathed his last while undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday night.

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Born in 1935, Jagapathi Rao was first time elected as MLA from Jagtial assembly constituency on a Congress party ticket in the year 1972. In 1978, he contested in the MLC election from the graduates constituency and won the polls.

As the Congress refused him a ticket in 1989, he contested as independent from Karimnagar assembly segment and won the poll. Later, Jagapathi Rao, who continued as an associate member of the Congress party, worked as the Telangana legislature forum convener. He also worked as AICC general secretary.

A strong Telangana protagonist, Jagapathi Rao wrote a number of articles in newspapers explaining the injustice done to Telangana along with statistics.

TS Planning Board Vice-Chairman B Vinod Kumar expressed his deep condolence on the demise of Jagapathi Rao. A freedom fighter, Jagapathi Rao yearned for separate Telangana and wrote articles on social issues, he said.