D. Seshagiri Rao

D. Seshagiri Rao was a leader of the coal-mine workers of Kothagudem, in Khammam district.¹² He joined the armed squads of the Telangana struggle against the Nizam.³⁴ The Nizam’s police caught and shot him in 1947–48.¹

His story is told in the Andhra Pradesh government’s Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle (1980) and in the Telugu histories of two Communist leaders, P. Sundarayya (1973) and Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao (1988).¹³² The Who’s Who gives his father’s name as Chatkayya.¹

The miners’ union

Sundarayya writes that Seshagiri Rao came from the Andhra region and was drawn to communism as a student.³ He became a full-time party worker and went to Kothagudem on the party’s orders to build a union of the mine workers.³ In a short time he won the workers’ trust, Sundarayya says.³

Devulapalli dates this work to 1940–41.⁴ He writes that Seshagiri Rao worked in secret in the Kothagudem area, built up the party and set up a mine workers’ union.⁴ The miners lived in very bad conditions, and in Devulapalli’s account the union won many of its demands under his lead.⁴

Underground and death

Sundarayya writes that Seshagiri Rao went underground in 1946–47, when the Razakars and the Nizam’s police were attacking villages.³ The police caught him, but he escaped while they were taking him to the district headquarters.³⁵ He then rejoined the squads near Dornakal.⁵ The Who’s Who also says he escaped from the Nizam’s jail.¹

A few months later, Sundarayya writes, someone betrayed him while he was going to Bhadrachalam by a forest path.⁵ The police arrested him and his companions at Tummala Cheruvu, on the way, and shot them.⁵ Devulapalli also says someone betrayed him, and that the police caught and shot him on his way to the district centre.⁴

Both Communist writers say the authorities kept his death secret for a long time.⁵⁴ Devulapalli writes that they feared a strike by the mine workers, and kept the news hidden for some months.⁴ He says many workers joined the armed resistance once the news came out.⁴

Where the sources disagree

The accounts name different places for his arrest and death:

• The Who’s Who says the Nizam’s police arrested him at Peddanellipaka village and shot him.¹
• Sundarayya says the police arrested him at Tummala Cheruvu, on the forest path to Bhadrachalam.⁵
• Devulapalli names no place, and says he was going to the district centre.⁴

None of the three gives the date of his death.¹⁵⁴

Footnotes

1. Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 130 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 483 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

3. P. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana Viplava Poratam: Gunapathalu (1973), p. 131 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 484 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

5. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 132 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷