Kona Prabhakara Rao (10 July 1916 – 20 October 1990) was an Indian politician. He was a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party and was elected four times as

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

from the

Bapatla Assembly constituency Bapatla Assembly constituency is a constituency in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh that elects representatives to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in India. It is one of the seven assembly segments of Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency. ...

Early life and education

Kona Prabhakar Rao was born in

Bapatla Bapatla is a town and district headquarters of Bapatla district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Bapatla mandal of Bapatla revenue division. The nearest towns and cities to Bapatla are ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, into a wealthy Telugu Niyogi Brahmin family in Bapatla. He did most of his schooling in Bapatla. At the age of 16, Rao conducted a boycott of schools when late

Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch ...

died. He was a social and political worker and took active part in the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

movement and Quit India Movement of 1942. In Bapatla he organised a youth league and promoted the use of

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

. A keen sportsman, Rao was tennis champion of the

Bombay University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

in 1938. He organised the Shivaji Vyayam Mandali at Bapatla and some other places. He was a wrestler and badminton champion during his college days at Pune. He graduated from the

Loyola College, Madras Loyola College is a government aided private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits ...

and completed his law degree from the

ILS Law College ILS Law College, or in its full name Indian Law Society's Law College, is a government-aided law school in Pune, India. It was established in 1924 and offers courses that include three-year and five-year degrees. ILS is located on Law College ...

, Pune. He started practice as an Advocate in Bapatla in the composite Madras State in 1940. Rao was actively associated with a large number of cultural organisations. He had in his earlier days produced, acted and directed many

Telugu film Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film Nagar, Hyderabad, Telug ...

s, notable among them being ''Mangalasutra'', '' Niraparadhi'' (1951), '' Nirdoshi'', '' Drohi'' and ''Soudamini''.

Career

He was elected to the

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly ( Telugu: ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ శాసన సభ, ISO: ''Āndhra Pradēś Śāsana Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state, Andhra Pradesh. ...

for the first time in 1967 and later in 1972 and 1978. He was Speaker of the Assembly during 1980-81. He was President of the APCC(I). He was also Minister of Finance and Planning during the Chief Ministership of

Bhavanam Venkatarami Reddy Bhavanam Venkatrami Reddy (18 July 1931 – 7 April 2002) was the chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh from February–September 1982. He was a member of the Congress party and served as cabinet minister in various AP governmen ...

and

Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy (16 August 1920 – 27 September 2001) served as the 9th chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 1983 and then from 1992 to 1994. Reddy was a member of the Indian National Congress and was elected ...

. Rao was appointed Governor of the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

on 2 September 1983 and he continued in that post until June 1984. On 17 June 1984 he assumed the office of the

Governor of Sikkim The governor of Sikkim is the head of the Indian state of Sikkim. The governor is appointed by the president of India and is the nominal head of the state's executive power. This is a list of the governors of Sikkim. There are 19 governors ...

, and then succeeded Air Chief Marshal I. H. Latif, as the Governor of Maharashtra, on 30 May 1985. In the area of education as the founder of the Bapatla Education Society he ensured several institutions evolved in his home town. He was responsible for bringing

Krishna River The Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga, Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godav ...

water to the town of Bapatla, which ensured a lot of progression in the area of agriculture which was a prominent means of living for the town. He died on 20 October 1990, at National Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad due to cardio-respiratory failure. His son Kona Raghupathi was elected as MLA for Bapatla constituency.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Kona Prabhakara 1916 births 1990 deaths Telugu politicians Politicians from Guntur district Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh MLAs 1967–1972 Speakers of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Governors of Sikkim Governors of Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh MLAs 1972–1978 Andhra Pradesh MLAs 1978–1983 Presidents of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee 2.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara "Ek Sur" () or "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" () as it is better known, is an Indian song and accompanying video promoting national integration and unity in diversity. The concept for ''Mile Sur'' was developed in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad ...