Veteran scribe Turlapati Kutumba Rao dies at 87

Veteran journalist and PadmaShri awardee Turlapati Kutumba Rao died following heart attackin Vijayawada early Monday,his family sources said.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Opposition leaderN Chandrababu Naidu and leaders of various political partiesmourned the death of Kutumba Rao (87).

In a statement, the Chief Minister said Rao was amulti-faceted talent, who excelled as a prolific writer and anorator.

''His contribution to Telugu journalism andliterature was rich,'' Jagan said, and conveyed his condolencesto the bereaved family.

Kutumba Rao, who became a journalist at 14, had thedistinction of serving as Secretary to the first ChiefMinister of Andhra state, Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, in the1950s.

He was also an author and orator and held theGuinness World Record for presiding over more than 10,000public meetings,according to sources.

Rao had addressed more than 20,000 events during hiscareer that spanned over six and a half decades.

He was considered a 'walking Encyclopedia' onpolitics and Telugu movies for his in-depth knowledge of thesubjects.

Rao later became Editor of Andhra Jyothy Telugudaily and Jyothy Chitra, the film weekly run by the samegroup.

He had a good rapport with at least 18 ChiefMinisters of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh and had penned abook listing his interactions with them.

The Government of India conferred Padma Shri onKutumba Rao in 2002.

During the tenure of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as ChiefMinister, Rao served as Chairman of the AP Library Council.

He won numerous awards while the Andhra Viswa KalaParishad conferred the Kala Prapoorna (honorary doctorate).

''Andhra Pradesh lost a multi-faceted talent in thedemise of Rao.The numerous awards and accolades he won,reflected Raos immense talents,'' Chandrababu said.

Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan, state Congresspresident S Sailajanath, journalists associations and a hostof others too expressed grief over the death of KutumbaRao.PTI DBV BNWELCOME BNWELCOME