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Vavilala Gopalakrishnaiah passes away

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD APRIL 29. Vavilala Gopalakrishnaiah, veteran of the freedom movement and a Gandhian, died on Tuesday after prolonged illness. A bachelor, he was 97. The end came at 4.30 a.m. at NIMS here.

He was admitted to NIMS on March 19 with cerebro-vascular insufficiency, asthmatic bronchitis and septicaemia. He has been hemiplegic for the past two and a half years and was given oral feeding through a tube.

Vavilala showed signs of recovery, but slipped into coma before succumbing to the complications today.

The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Cabinet colleagues — T. Devender Goud, P. Ashok Gajapati Raju and Kodela Sivaprasada Rao — were among the first to reach NIMS on hearing about the death.

They attended the funeral at Sattenapalli in the evening. Mr. Naidu announced that a commemorative garden would be developed on a 2-hectare plot at Sattenapalli.

The Governor, S.S. Barnala, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, the Leader of the Opposition, Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and a host of personalities from different walks of life paid tributes to one of the greatest sons of Andhra Pradesh.

Vavilala's had been a chequered life. He became member of the composite Madras Assembly as a communist candidate in 1952. He won the Assembly elections in 1955 (Andhra State), 1962 and 1967 (AP Assembly) as an independent from Sattenapalli in Guntur district.

He had suffered a shock defeat in the 1972 elections in the face of `Indira wave.'

Vavilala took part in separate linguistic State, Visalandhra, cooperative, library and other movements.

In the recent past, he was involved in the total prohibition movement. In recognition of his services, he was conferred `Padma Bhushan' in 1992.

A Gandhian to the core, he was always seen in coarse brown khadi kurta and dhoti and carrying a cloth bag which was almost an integral part of his personality.

A man who stood for high values and concern for the poor, Mr. Gopalakrishnaiah in his last years used to voice his anguish over deteriorating standards in public life and the plight of common people..

A man who never hankered after power or positions, he was persuaded to become Chairman of the Official Languages Commission and of the Swami Ramananda Thirtha Institute of Rural Development, a deemed University.

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