CPI former general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy passes away at 83

Speaking about his comrade Reddy, D Raja the current general secretary of CPI wrote on X, “Comrade Sudhakar dedicated his life to the struggles of the working class. Being a lifelong fighter for the people, he will be remembered for his humility, clarity, and unwavering commitment to the CPI & the Left movement.”

Speaking to the Indian Express Raja said, “Sudhakar Reddy was a key leader who was instrumental in keeping the communist parties together”. He was known to have close ties with both Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, general secretaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Raja said.

He added, “Right from him student days he was associated with the party and hence he was one of the veteran leaders of the party”. Reddy who hailed from Mahabubnagar district in Telangana was born on March 25, 1942. His father S Venkatrami Reddy was a freedom fighter. Reddy was known for student activism right from his school days when he studied at Municipal High School and Coles Memorial High School in Kurnool. Reddy got his law degree from Osmania University Law College.

Reddy was part of All India Students Federation (AISF), the student wing of the CPI. He rose to the AISF’s national president in 1970 and was elected to the national council in 1971.

While he unsuccessfully contested Assembly elections from undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1985, 1990 and 1994, In 1998, he was elected as an MP. He became CPI’s state secretary the same year. He was elected MP again in 2004.

CPI leaders said that Suravaram had seen both the ups and downs of the CPI. In the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s tenure between 2004 and 2014, Suravaram played the role of being the voice for the working class, D Raja said. Later when the Congress-Left coalition did not work, he kept the cadre of the CPI together. “He was one of the most approachable and widely networked comrades in the party,” Raja said.

At the end of his tenure as CPI general secretary, it was Suravaram who nominated D Raja to the general secretary’s post of the party. “It was based on his support that I came up as the general secretary,” Raja said.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that Sudhakar Reddy’s demise is a “loss to the entire country”. Telangana’s former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi too expressed his condolences.

Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan expressed his condolences stating he was an “excellent parliamentarian” and “a voice for workers and ordinary people”.