Hyderabad: Kolluri Chiranjeevi, a 74-year-old activist who participated in the first and second-generation separate Telangana movements, breathed his last in a private hospital on Monday, following an illness.
Chiranjeevi is survived by his wife and daughter.
Born in Warangal district, Chiranjeevi was an MBBS graduate from Kakatiya Medical College, where he played an active role in the 1969 Telangana movement.
He was associated with the People’s War Group (PWG), a far-left group communist founded by late Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. Later, he spread the Bahujan movement under the leadership of Kanshiram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
He had also worked as the editor for Bahujana Patrika. After distancing himself from the BSP, Chiranjeevi took up various programs for the welfare of the poor.
He was also responsible for the republication of the book authored by the last Prime Minister of Hyderabad, Mir Laik Ali ‘Tragedy of Hyderabad’, which was then banned in the country. After several publishers refused to take up, the Deccan Archeological and Cultural Research Institute and the 1969 Telangana Movement Founders’ Forum reprinted the book, which speaks about the “hidden facts of the tragic history of Hyderabad State”.
Chiranjeevi, who was also the convener of Telangana Movement Founders’ Forum, published the book in 2011.
Recently, the Telangana government had sanctioned Rs 10 lakh to pay for Chiranjeevi’s medical expenses. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and other ministers condoled the death of Chiranjeevi.