Dr Kolluri Chiranjeevi, one of the first activists of the separate Telangana movement, passed away in Hyderabad on Monday following a brief illness. He was 74. He was undergoing treatment for respiratory illness at a private hospital.
The senior activist, who hailed from the erstwhile Warangal, was known for his contributions to both phases of the separate Telangana movement.
Dr Kolluri’s daughter Ajitha said in a statement that he breathed his last at 1.45 am on Monday morning after suffering a “cardiac arrest”.
Earlier, on learning that Dr Kolluri’s family was facing difficulties in meeting the expenses for his treatment, Telangana Minister for Industries and Information Technology KT Rama Rao (KTR) had sanctioned Rs 10 lakh assistance from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) for his treatment.
Health Minister Eatela Rajendar, MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha and others had paid him a visit at the hospital.
Expressing his condolences over the activist’s death, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said in a statement that Dr Kolluri’s life was an ideal for society, as he was a qualified doctor who lived for the well-being of society. KTR, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, Eatala Rajender and T Harish Rao also condoled the death of the leading activist.
Dr Kolluri was one among the stalwarts who took an active role in the Telangana movement and was the co-convenor of the 1969 Telangana Movement Founders Forum. Besides being a staunch Telangana movement advocate, he also took part in several social movements in the state.
He led an active role in the 1969 Telangana movement while he was pursuing MBBS at the Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal.
Dr Kolluri was among those who played a key role during the second wave of the Telangana movement in the 2000s. He served as a member of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) that led the movement at the time.
The activist was also associated with the People’s War Group (PWG), a far-Left group founded by the late Kondapalli Seetharamaiah in 1980. During his stint with the group, he remained underground for about five years but later left the group.
After 1990, he tried to build a larger Bahujan movement under the leadership of Kanshi Ram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
In 2011, he re-published the book Tragedy of Hyderabad, a first-person account of the tumultuous events leading up to the merger of Hyderabad with the Indian Union, penned by Mir Laiq Ali, the last Prime Minister of Hyderabad State.
Dr Kolluri is known for his association with three popular movements, namely the Telangana movement, the Peoples’ War movement and the Dalit movement.