| Kona Prabhakara Rao | |
|---|---|
| In office 1967–1987 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 July 1916 Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh |
| Died | 20 October 1990 Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
Shri Kona Prabhakara Rao (1916-1990) was born on 10th July 1916 in Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and the Former Governor of Maharashtra. He died on October 20, 1990, at National Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad due to cardio-respiratory failure
He did most of his schooling in his native place Bapatla, and then graduated from the Loyola College, Madras and completed his law degree from the I. L.S. Law College, Pune.
At the age of 16, Shri Rao conducted boycott of schools when late Motilal Nehru died. He was a social and political worker and took active part in the Salt Satyagraha movement and Quit India Movement of 1942. In Bapatla he organised a youth league and propagated using of Khadi.
Shri Kona Prabhakar Rao born into a wealthy Telugu Niyogi Brahimin family in Bapatla, received his higher education in Madras. He started practice as an Advocate in Bapatla in the composite Madras State in 1940. He was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1967 and later in 1972 and 1978. He was Speaker of the Assembly during 1980-81. He was President of the APCC(I). He was also Minister of Finance and Planning during the Chief Ministership of Shri Bhavana Venkatram and Shri Vijaya Bhaskara Reddi.
Shri Rao was appointed as Governor of Pondicherry on 2nd September 1983 when it was still a union territory and he continued in that post till June 1984. On 17th June 1984 he assumed the office of the Governor of Sikkim, and then succeeded Air Chief Marshal I. H. Latif, as the Governor of Maharashtra, on 30th May 1985.
A keen sportsman Shri Rao was Tennis champion of the Bombay University in 1938. He organised the Shivaji Vyayam Mandali at Bapatla and some other places. He was a wrestler and badminton champion during his college days at Pune.
Shri Rao was actively associated with a large number of cultural organisations. He has in his earlier days produced, acted and directed many Telugu films, notable among them being Mangalasutra, Niraparadhi (1951), Nirdoshi, Drohi and Soudamini.
Shri Rao in his tenure has helped Bapatla progress immensely. In the area of education as the Founder of the Bapatla Education Society he ensured several institutions evolved in his home town. He was responsible for bringing Krishna water to the town of Bapatla, which ensured a lot of progression in the area of agriculture which was a prominent means of living for the town.
Here is a quote from the Bapatla Education Society - "A significant step towards the fulfillment of the laudable objectives with which the Education Society was started, was taken in 1981 with the establishment of the Bapatla Engineering College, a gift to this area of Late Sri Kona Prabhakara Rao, Founder Secretary, Bapatla Education Society and former Governor, Maharashtra. With the starting of the Bapatla Public School in 1987 and later the opening of M.Sc.(Maths), M.Sc.(Electronics). The Bapatla College of Pharmacy and The Bapatla Law College in 1995-96 the Society's unending quest for expansion acquired another memorable dimension, viz, that of having courses ranging from K.G to P.G under same management."
Bapatla is an assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh.
List of Elected Members: