Hyderabad, June 29 (NSS): Congress senior leader and former Rajya Sabha member Dharmapuri Srinivas passed away on Saturday. He was 76.
Dharmapuri Srinivas, fondly called as DS, had been suffering from illness for some time and breathed his last due to a heart attack at 3 AM at his residence in Hyderabad.
He is survived by his two sons. His elder son Sanjay has previously served as the Mayor of Nizamabad and second son Dharmapuri Arvind, is currently the Member of Lok Sabha from Nizamabad.
Born on September 27, 1948 in Velpur village of Nizamabad district, DS graduated from Nizam College, Hyderabad.
In 1989, he contested for the Assembly for the first time from Nizamabad Urban constituency on behalf of the Congress Party and won. After that he won as MLA in 1999 and 2004 Assembly elections.
During the 2004 and 2009 elections, he played a key role in the Congress party coming to power as the PCC President. In 2004, he played an active role in Congress alliance with BRS.
Dharmapuri Srinivas continued as minister for two terms. From 1989 to 1994, he served as the minister of Rural Development and I&PR, and from 2004 to 2008 as the minister of Higher Education and Urban Land Ceiling.
He was elected MLC in 2011 and elected leader of the party in the Telangana Legislative Council. In the 2014 elections, he contested from Nizamabad rural Assembly constituency, but lost to the TRS candidate Bajireddy Goverdhan.
After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, he left the Congress party and joined the BRS party in 2015. D Srinivas was a Member of Rajya Sabha between 2016 and 2022 from Bharat Rashtra Samithi ( BRS).
D Srinivas left the BRS party during the last Assembly elections and rejoined Congress party. However, he has been staying away from politics for some time due to ill health. DS was named as loyal to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s family. (NSS)
