The News Minute | January 19, 2015 | 11:15 am ISTSenior Congress leader and MLC Paladugu Venkata Rao (75) who was ailing for some time, passed away in a hospital in Hyderabad in the early hours of Monday.He is survived by wife Susheela.According to a report in The Hindu, the body of the Congress leader would be kept at Gandhi Bhavan, the AP Congress Committee headquarters till 3 pm following which, it would be shifted and last rites would be performed on Wednesday morning at his ancestral village.Mr. Rao joined active politics as a Youth Congress leader in 1968 and made his debut as an MLA from Nuzvid constituency in 1978. He also served as Minister for Rural Water Supply, Agriculture Minister and Marketing Minister.Mr. Rao was re-elected for the second time in 2011 as an MLC for a six year term which would have ended in 2017.Various leaders including AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, condoled his death.TweetFollow @thenewsminute