Congress leader Nandi Yellaiah passes away

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and eight-time MP Nandi Yellaiah died of a brief illness after being detected positive for Covid-19 in Hyderabad on Saturday. He was 78. He is survived by his two sons and two daughters.

A prominent Dalit leader of the Congress party, Yellaiah was vice-president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. (TPCC).

The party said in a press communique that Yellaiah was admitted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad with pneumonia on July 29. He tested positive for Covid-19 subsequently. After 10 days in treatment, he passed away at 10.30 am Saturday.

Born on July 1, 1942 at Bholakpur in Hyderabad, Yellaiah began his political career as a follower of the former chief minister Marri Channa Reddy and took part in the 1969 Telangana movement. He was a councillor in the Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation in the 1970s.

Yellaiah was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1977, representing Siddipet. Subsequently,  he won Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency four more times.

In 2014, he was elected from the Nagarkurnool defeating Manda Jagannatham of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha twice and was a member of the Legislative Council for some time.

The last rites were performed at the Bansilalpet crematorium in Secunderabad. Expressing sorrow over the death of Yellaiah, chief
minister K Chandrashekar Rao conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.

TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka,
senior leaders of the party including Marri Shashidhar Reddy, V Hanumanth Rao, Sampath Kumar and others mourned the death of Nandi Yellaiah.