Jalagam Vengal Rao or Jalagam Vengala Rao (May 1921 – 12 June 1999) was for much of his life a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

and was the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to t ...

which is now divided into two states,

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

and

Early life

Rao hailed from Bayyannagudem in

Khammam district Khammam district is a district in the eastern region of the Indian state of Telangana. The city of Khammam is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Bhadradri districts and with Eluru and NTR ...

(currently part of the

state).

Career

His involvement in politics began when he was in his twenties, when he supported Congress in their campaign of armed defiance against the Nizam of Hyderabad. He was jailed for his involvement in this campaign, which was protesting the tenancy laws operating in the Telangana region. Although he tried and failed to be elected as an independent candidate in 1952, Rao subsequently was elected on four occasions to the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh, where he represented the

Sathupalli Sathupalli is a town in Khammam district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is a Municipality in Sathupally mandal of Khammam revenue division. It is situated approximately east of Hyderabad, from Khammam and from Warangal. It is about no ...

constituency of Khammam district.

Lok Sabha

He was also twice elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...

- the lower house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

- as a representative of the Khammam district constituency. The first of his successful Assembly elections was in 1962, and the period from 1952 to that time saw him occupying the post of president for the Khammam district branch of Congress and being the first chairman of the district council.

As Home Minister

In 1968, he became State Home Minister in the state government headed by

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994) was the Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, India, from 29 February 1964 to 30 September 1971. On 3 June 1977, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress. Early life Kasu ...

. Later, during his period as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, an office to which he was appointed by Indira Gandhi and held between 10 December 1973 and 6 March 1978, Rao's hallmark was his administrative efficiency. He is also known for his handling and containment of Naxalite insurgency, which took place during a revival of the

Telangana movement The Telangana movement refers to a movement for the creation of a separate state, Telangana, from the pre-existing state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state of Hy ...

that sought independent statehood. He almost wiped out Naxalism from the state through extra judicial killings namely encounters. Later, the Vimadalal commission was appointed to probe into attacks on Naxalites during his period in office and his earlier actions against Communist-inspired Naxalites during the 1960s have been referred to as a "reign of terror". The official website for the government of Andhra Pradesh refers to his tenure, which came about following a period of President's rule, politically stable. Despite that popularity, he was unable to retain power in the 1978 elections.

Congress split

When Congress split during the mid-1970s, Rao initially did not join with the faction led by Indira Gandhi that was referred to as Congress (I). However, he did join in 1984 and with his election to the Lok Sabha in that year he served in the cabinet of

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to bec ...

, holding the post of Union Minister for Industry until 1989. For much of this period, between 1984 and 1988, he was also president of the state organization of his political party, being the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee.

As Chief Minister

He was the 5th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 10 December 1973 – 6 March 1978. It was during his tenure as Chief Minister that three universities namely

Kakatiya University Kakatiya University is a public university located in Hanmakonda, Warangal in the Indian state of Telangana. It was most recently accredited with an "A" Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India on 12 September 2017. ...

Acharya Nagarjuna University Acharya Nagarjuna University ( IAST: ''Ācārya Nāgārjuna Vișvavidyālaya'') is a state university in Namburu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. History The university was established as Nagarjuna University by Act 43 of 1976 of A. ...

and Sri Krishnadevaraya University were started, catering for three regions of Andhra Pradesh:

Coastal Andhra Coastal Andhra (South costal Andhra) also known as Coastal Andhra, Kostha Andhra is a region in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Vijayawada is the largest city in this region. It was part of Madras State before 1953 and Andhra State from ...

, and

Rayalaseema Rayalaseema () is a geographic region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It comprises eight south western districts of the State namely, Kurnool, Nandyal, Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, YSR, Annamayya, Tirupati and Chittoor districts ...

. Rao initiated a World

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Conference in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

in 1975.

Death

Jalagam Vengal Rao died on 12 June 1999.

Family

He has two sons, Jalagam Prasada Rao and

Jalagam Venkat Rao Jalagam Venkat Rao (born April 18, 1967) is ex member of the legislative assembly representing Kothagudem (Assembly constituency). He won the 2004 elections from Sathupalli constituency and 2014 elections from Kothagudem constituency. Early l ...

. Jalagam Prasada Rao was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Satthupalli constituency for two terms and he was a minister in N. Janardhan Reddy's cabinet. He held the portfolios of Small scale industries and Panchayat Raj.

, is also a politician and was a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

of Andhra Pradesh, representing the INC for the same constituency, Satthupalli, as his father.

Commemoration

Rao wrote an autobiography in the

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language f ...

, called ''Naa Jeevitha Katha''. The contents caused some controversy with regard to the lives of other politicians. A part of it was published in English translation by ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

'' magazine. A park in Banjara Hills,

was named after him as Jalagam Vengal Rao Park. There is also an upscale residential neighborhood named after him – ''Vengal Rao Nagar'' - and several educational institutions.