He was hardly 17 years old when Konda Lakshman Bapuji mobilised a few youths at Rajura in his native Adilabad ditrict and walked for 20 miles (32 km) to attend a public meeting Mahatma Gandhiji at Chanda in the Vidarbha region of the present Maharashtra state in 1932.
Lakshman, who was born on September 27, 1915 at Wankdi in Adilabad district to Bapuji and Ammakka, did First Grade Law Diploma Course.
Inspired by Gandhiji and other leaders, he plunged into the national movement soon after education.
He was arrested in 1938 for participating in the Satyagraha movement in Hyderabad and was lodged in the Chanchalgunda Central Jail. Apart from the freedom movement, he was also actively involved with the activities of Andhra Mahasabha during 1941-42. He organised satyagraha and other activities as part of the Quit India Movement in 1942.
Even after India’s Independence in 1947 and his marriage to Shakuntala Devi in 1948, he did not keep away from people and actively participated in the struggle for the then Hyderabad state’s merger with the Indian Union.
In the first general election held in free India in 1952, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Hyderabad from Asifabad double member constituency in Adilabad district. After Andhra Pradesh was formed, he was elected to the state Assembly from Chinna Kondur in Nalgonda district and became deputy speaker. In 1960 he served as minister for excise, village and small-scale industries, handloom and textiles, and industries.
He was re-elected from Chinna Kondur in a by-election in 1965. In 1967 he won from Bhongir in Nalgonda district and became minister of labour and information & public relations.
In 1969 he resigned from the ministry and plunged into the Telangana movement. He was arrested and remanded in the Rajahmundry Central Jail.