Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao

Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao (31 August 1923 - 9 May 2016) was an Indian communist leader and politician from the state of Telangana (former part of Andhra Pradesh). Between 1957 and 2004 he got elected six times to the State Legislative Assembly.

Rajeshwara Rao was active in the Quit India Movement and the struggle against the Nizam's rule of Hyderabad. During the resistance he spent 5 years underground and in jail before entering electoral politics following the integration of Hyderabad state into the Indian Union. He was a long-time member of the Communist Party of India and in 1999 joined the Telugu Desam Party. He retired from active politics in 2009.

Early life and education Rajeshwara Rao was born to Chennamaneni Chandramma and Srinivasa Rao in the Marupaka village of Vemulawada Urban mandal, Karimnagar district, on 31 August 1923. He was the third child and had eight sisters and three brothers. According to his autobiography, he was interested in issues of social justice in Telangana from an early age on and often had the opportunity to observe the discussions of Andhra Mahasabha leaders, Polkampalli Venkatrama Rao and Baddam Yella Reddy, particularly when its fourth conference was held in Sircilla in 1935. Influenced by this movement he later came into contact with Marxist ideology. In 1942, he joined the Communist Party of India and in 1944 became regular member of the party. Rajeshwara Rao attended Karimnagar High School till 1943 and subsequently entered Osmania University to become a lawyer. In this period of underground and jail life, Rajeshwara Rao, his wife Lalitha, their two daughters Aruna and Kalpana, both born in this period, and his brother Ch. Hanumantha Rao faced severe hardships. In 1957, Rajeshwara Rao was elected to the first Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh from the Choppadandi constituency. Throughout his career as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), he served the Karimnagar district and got re-elected five times from Sircilla and once from Choppadandi in the following years. He worked as Chief Whip of the CPI in the state parliament between 1957 and 1962 and then returned to university to finish his law degree in 1963. In the following three years he practised law in the Karimnagar District Court before re-entering the Legislative Assembly in 1967 and working as the CPI floor leader till 1972. He also served as a member of the CPI central committee for several years.

Despite being one of the founding stalwarts of the Communist Movement in Telangana, in 1999, he sent a shockwave in political circles by snapping decades old relations with CPI and joined Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chandra Babu Naidu. Rajeshwara Rao lost the subsequent elections in 1999 but got elected as an TDP MLA in 2004. After serving the term he retired in 2009.

After leaving the CPI, Rajeshwara Rao continued to work through an NGO, the Self Employed Welfare Society (SEWS) with a number of projects supported by the German government, the European Union and Andhra Pradesh government. He was also working for the Freedom Fighters’ Organization, of which he was president until his demise. Rajeshwara Rao along with Devender Goud and others were instrumental in the TDP to convince Chandrababu Naidu to adopt separate Telangana resolution in TDP Mahanadu in May 2008. However, due to Naidu's reluctance Devender Goud quit the TDP. After Rajeshwara Rao's retirement from active politics at the age of 87, his son Ch Ramesh was elected in 2009 to the assembly as a candidate of TDP/TRS alliance.

Legislative work Rajeshwara Rao's 30-year legislative career started in 1957 when he was elected as an MLA and became Chief Whip of the Communist Party, while Puchalapalli Sundarayya was the leader and Ravi Narayana Reddy and Arutla Kamala Devi were Deputy Leaders. Due to Rajeshwara Rao, his main concern was to serve the poor population of Telangana throughout his career. and served as a member of the National Planning Commission under Rajiv Gandhi led Congress Government. Whereas another brother Ch. Venkateshwar Rao is a social worker. His youngest brother is Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, member of the BJP and presently the governor of Maharashtra. Rajeshwara Rao's son, Ramesh serves as a MLA from Vemulawada, and his nephew (sister's son), B. Vinod Kumar is a Member of Parliament; both of them belong to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).