Former AP Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao dead, suicide suspected

Hyderabad, Sep 16: Kodela Siva Prasad Rao, a TDP leader who served as the first Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly after bifurcation, has passed away and he is suspected to have committed suicide. The 72-year-old leader is said to have hung himself at his residence in Hyderabad.

He was a six time MLA and won from Narsaraopet assembly seat five times. The doctors at the Basavatarakam Hospital at Jubilee Hills confirmed his death.

"He was brought dead to hospital, his family members told us that he tried to commit suicide by hanging. Suicide can be confirmed only after postmortem, case has been registered," ANI quoted Hyderabad West Zone DCP as saying.

He is said to have gone upstairs to his room after breakfast and shut the door. A HansIndia report states that as Rao did not come down, his family members went up.

He was found to he hanging. His family members immediately rushed him to Basavatarakam Hospital where, reports say, doctors declared him dead.

While some reports claim that he died under mysterious circumstances, others say that he committed suicide by hanging himself.

He had served as a cabinet minister in both NT Rama Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu governments. He has held porfolios of Home Ministry, Major and Medium Irrigation and Panchayat Raj during his political career.

Rao was born in Kandlagunta, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India on May 2, 1947. He completed his Primary education in Siripuram, Guntur district. He studied pre-university at Loyola College, Vijayawada. He graduated in M.B.B.S from Guntur Medical College, Kurnool and got his MS (General Surgery) from Banaras Hindu University. Rao joined the TDP in 1983.