With Tears In His Eyes, KCR Pays Tribute To Dubbaka MLA Ramalinga Reddy

SIDDIPET:  Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was overcome with emotions on seeing the mortal remains of TRS MLA from Dubbaka Solipeta Ramalingareddy, who died in Hyderabad in the early hours of Thursday. With tears trickling down, he recollected his close association with the departed legislator, especially the proactive role he played at the height of the separate Telangana statehood agitation.

The mortal remains of Ramalinga Reddy, who breathed his last at a private hospital in Hyderabad, were shifted to his native village Chittapur. Within hours, the Telangana chief minister also arrived at his residence and paid a tearful homage to him. Ministers K T Rama Rao, Harish Rao, Eetala Rajender and Prashant Reddy were among those who accompanied KCR on this visit.

The final rites of Ramalinga Reddy were performed later in the day with full state honours at his farm land in Chittapur. Security was beefed up in Chittapur as KCR himself came down to pay tributes and bid farewell to the leader, known to be one of those very close to the chief minister. Ramalinga Reddy’s residence, where his body was kept throughout the day, witnessed a steady stream of visitors as people even braved the coronavirus scare and turned up in large numbers.

Before taking active part in the separate statehood movement, Ramalinga Reddy spent many years in journalism with stints in Udayam and Vaartha Telugu dailies since 1982. Several senior journalists also paid their last respects to Ramalinga Reddy and recollected their association with him.

Ramalinga Reddy (57) was elected from Dommata and Dubbaka for four times as a legislator on a TRS ticket. According to sources close to his family, he was admitted to a private hospital in Kompally near Hyderabad about 20 days ago. A surgery was performed on one of his legs but with his health condition worsening due to infection to the operated leg, he was shifted to another hospital in Gacchibowli about a week back. After battling for life, he breathed his last in the early hours of Thursday.

He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.