Date:16/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/16/stories/2007081660030600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

TDP leader killed in accident

Special Correspondent

Manimanthu Naidu was closely associated with Chandrababu Naidu
Naidu’s car collided with an APSRTC bus at Kaluru

TIRUPATI: Tragedy struck the family of prominent TDP leader, L. Manimanthu Naidu (57), on Independence Day when he was killed after his car collided head-on with an APSRTC bus at Kaluru cross off the Tirupati-Chandragiri highway.

Manimanthu Naidu was closely associated with the TDP and its president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, since the formative days of the party. He was reportedly on his way to his native village, Pulicherla, in Chandragiri mandal when his car and a Piler depot bus bound for Tirupati rammed into each other around 3.30 p.m. The impact of the collision was such that the front portion of the Ambassador car telescoped into the bus and Naidu was thrown out of the car through the front door which got opened after the crash.

A progressive farmer, Naidu was the State general secretary of the Telugu Rythu in the mid-90s and participated in several agitations demanding irrigation projects for Rayalaseema in general and Chittoor district in particular.

His wife, Kasthuramma, was the Pulicherla ZPTC member between 2001 and 2006.