Last rites of Kodela Siva Prasada Rao to be done with State honours

The last rites of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker, Kodela Siva Prasada Rao will be done with State honours in his home town of Narsaraopeta on Wednesday. The body was taken from Hyderabad to Guntur, by road, as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu, son Nara Lokesh and senior TDP leaders accompanied it.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, announced earlier that Dr. Rao will be cremated with state honours. He has directed Chief Secretary L V Subramanyam to supervise all the necessary arrangements for the funeral.

Despite heavy rain, the TDP workers in Guntur turned up in large numbers to pay their last respects to the Party veteran as the funeral procession moved through different parts of the city. The body is kept at TDP’s Guntur office for party workers to attend the last rites of Kodela Siva Prasada Rao and pay homage to the six-time MLA.

Meanwhile, Section 144 of CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) and Section 30 of Police Act have been imposed in Guntur District with all the volatile political unrest presiding over the matter. Security has been beefed up while assurances have been given that the police deployment will not get in the way of the funeral procession.

Dr. Kodela Siva Prasada Rao had committed suicide in his Hyderabad residence on Monday. He had served as cabinet ministers in the State Governments led by previous Chief Ministers NT Rama Rao and Chandrababu Naidu. Since then, a political war has ensued between TDP and YSRCP over the matter as Chandrababu Naidu has called for a probe into the suicide.