Senior CPI leader Gunda Mallesh dies at 73

Senior CPI leader in Telangana and former MLA Gunda Mallesh died at a state-run hospital here on Tuesday while undergoing treatment for various ailments, party sources said.

He was 73.

Mallesh, who had been elected to the Legislative Assembly for four terms, was undergoing treatment at the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here, the sources said.

He represented Asifabadin 1983, 1985, 1994 and Bellampalli in 2009 in the undivided Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao condoled the death. In a message, Rao recalled his association with Mallesh and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.

CPI general secretary D Raja, his predecessor S Sudhakar Reddy, state Congress president and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, TDPs Telangana unit president L Ramana and several other leaders mourned the death.

The demise of Mallesh is a big loss to the party and the Left and democratic movement, a CPI release quoted Raja as saying.

Mallesh was a leader with commitment who fought for the upliftment of the poor, the PCC president said.

Telangana has lost an honest leader with his death, Reddy said.