VIJAYAWADA: Political leaders, cutting across party lines, today, paid rich tributes to former Union minister Parvataneni Upendra who passed away 10 days ago. They recollected Upendra’s services as a political leader at a condolence meeting organised by the Vijayawada unit of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) at Tummalapalli Kshetraiah Kala Keshtram here.
Senior journalist Turlapati Kutumba Rao, who presided over the programme, said the State had lost a great parliamentarian with the demise of Upendra and it be hard to fill the void.
Former minister, Mandali Budda Prasad, said that Upendra had played a pivotal role in setting up the Doordarshan studio and escalator at the Vijayawada railway station and had brough a lot of funds for the development of Krishna district.
Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu, Pamarru MLA D Y Dasu, Vijayawada-West MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, Mayor Ratna Bindu, MLC Ilapuram Venkaiah, Krishna district ZP vicechairman Tatineni Padmavati, former ZP chairman Pinnamaneni Koteswara Rao, TDP leaders T Premnath and Kadiyala Raghava Rao, CPI city secretary K Subbaraju, CPM leaders Ch Babu Rao and Donepudi Kasinath, Lok Satta leader K V P Basaveswara Rao, BJP leader Naga Laxmi and several PRP leaders also took part in the condolence meeting.
Later, Upendra’s sons - Venkata Krishna Mohan, Sharat Kumar and Vivekanand, and Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal performed special poojas at the Krishna Ghat and immersed Upendra’s ashes in the river.