Telangana CM Revanth Reddy Condoles the Death of Dharmapuri Srinivas
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday, June 29, expressed his condolences over the death of former minister and former PCC President Dharmapuri Srinivas.
The chief minister reminisced about Srinivas’s significant contributions as PCC President and his exceptional service to the Congress party over an extended period. “D Srinivas, who ascended to greater heights from a Congress worker, is a role model for many political leaders,” stated the chief minister. He also extended his deepest sympathies to the bereaved family.
Additionally, the CM instructed state Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to arrange for the last rites of Srinivas to be conducted with full state honors.
Former IT minister KT Rama Rao and former vice president Venkaiah Naidu also paid their respects to the senior Congress leader.
Srinivas, aged 76, who had served as a minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, passed away at his residence around 3 a.m., as per family sources. He had been in poor health for the last couple of years following a brain stroke.
Known popularly as DS, he is survived by his wife and two sons. His younger son, Dharampuri Arvind, is a BJP MP from Nizamabad, while his elder son, Dharampuri Sanjay, served as Mayor of Nizamabad.
Srinivas was at the helm of the Congress in undivided Andhra Pradesh when it returned to power in 2004. He twice headed the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and served as a minister in Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s Cabinet.
After the formation of Telangana state in 2014, Srinivas switched allegiance to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi) and was appointed as a special advisor to the government. He was later nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016.
However, on the eve of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Srinivas faced allegations of anti-party activities due to his son Arvind joining the BJP, leading him to distance himself from active politics.
On March 26, 2023, Srinivas re-joined the Congress along with his son Sanjay. He arrived at the party office in a wheelchair and was welcomed back in the presence of then Telangana Congress in-charge Manikrao Thakare and state Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy. A statement was released the following day denying his rejoining, claiming he merely accompanied his son.
Srinivas joined the Congress in 1989, was elected to the Assembly from Nizamabad Urban constituency the same year, and became a minister. He was re-elected as an MLA in 1999 and 2004. He served as Minister for Rural Development, Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1994, and as Minister for Higher Education and Urban Land Ceiling from 2004 to 2008.
He led the Congress to power in 2004 and again in 2009. However, he faced defeat in his Assembly constituency in 2009. Srinivas also served as a Member of the Legislative Council between 2013 and 2015.
