BJP State general secretary and former MLA and Minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao died of COVID-19 at a private hospital here on Saturday. He was 60.
Rao was elected to the Legislative Assembly from Tadepalligudem constituency in West Godavari district in 2014 when his party was in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party.
He was one of the two BJP MLAs (Kamineni Srinivas is the other one) who were inducted into the Cabinet. He held Endowments portfolio.
Manikyala Rao and Mr. Srinivas had resigned from the TDP Cabinet in March 2018 following a spat between the alliance partners over bifurcation issues.
Manikyala Rao joined a COVID hospital in Eluru three weeks ago and was admitted to a hospital in Vijayawada after his condition deteriorated. He has since been on a ventilator.
He was a native of Tadepalligudem and is survived by wife and daughter.
Manikyala Rao had joined the BJP in 1989 after a long stint in the RSS, which began at a young age of 10. He was a photographer and did some businesses and organised social service activities before taking the plunge into politics.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, BJP State president Somu Veerraju, former State BJP president Kanna Lakshminarayana, State party affairs in-charge Sunil Deodhar, MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu and others mourned Manikyala Rao's demise.
