78-year-old Telangana Congress Vice President Nandi Yellaiah succumbed to COVID-19 on Saturday while availing treatment at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) hospital. The veteran leader was shifted to the hospital on July 29. Yellaiah is survived by two daughters and two sons.
Born on July 1, 1942 at Bholakpur in Hyderabad, Yellaiah, a prominent Dalit leader, began his political career as a follower of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Marri Channa Reddy. He had actively participated in the first phase of Telangana statehood agitation in 1969.
“He was admitted to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad with complaints of pneumonia on July 29. He tested positive for Covid-19 subsequently. After undergoing treatment for 10 days, he passed away at 10.30 am,” the Congress party said in a statement.
Yelliah was fondly referred to as “Dalita Baandhavudu” (saviour of Dalits) for his community service. He was a six-time Lok Sabha MP and two-term Rajya Sabha.
Expressing condolences, Telangana Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “Deeply saddened by the sudden demise of my senior colleague. He was a Gandhian activist, a champion of the weaker sections and served as MP six times in LS and twice in RS during his long and distinguished career.”
Deeply saddened by the sudden demise of my senior colleague & @INCTelangana Vice President, Shri Nandi Yellaiah Garu.
— Uttam Kumar Reddy (@UttamTPCC) August 8, 2020
He was a Gandhian activist, a champion of the weaker sections & served as MP six times in LS & twice in RS during his long & distinguished career.
Om Shanti! pic.twitter.com/Q59Ai2gfML
A long time associate of Yelliah, senior leader and former MP V Hanumantha Rao said that the death of a Yelliah was a huge loss to the party. “I knew him since he was a councillor. We then worked together along with former CM Chenna Reddy in the Telangana statehood struggle. In 1980, he first contested as an MP from Siddipet constituency and won five terms from the same constituency.” he recalled. In 2014, Yelliah contested from Nagarkurnool and was elected as the MP.
Hanumantha Rao said that Yellaiah was a good natured man and a committed Congress leader. “In the 2019 Parliament elections even when the party did not offer him a ticket, he did not abandon the party. A committed Congress leader passing away is an irreplaceable loss for the Congress party.”
Recalling his humble beginnings, Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka), legislator of Mulugu said that Yelliah rose from the ranks of a party worker to a corporator of municipal corporation in Hyderabad and eventually became a Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha member.
A Dalit leader who rose from the ranks of a party worker to a corporater of municipal corporation in Hyderabad to becoming Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha member, he was in forefront of the first phase of Telangana agitation in 1969 and is popularly known as “Dalitha Bandhavudu”
— Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) (@seethakkaMLA) August 8, 2020
RIP Sir pic.twitter.com/7yMPGFYDtV
Pouring tribute to Yellaiah, she said, “He was at the forefront of the first phase of Telangana agitation in 1969 and is popularly known as ‘Dalitha Bandhavudu’.”