Former AP minister Gummadi Kuthuhalamma passes away in Tirupati

Former AP minister and deputy speaker Gummadi Kuthuhalamma (73) passed away after suffering from illness for some time at her residence in Tirupati on Wednesday morning. Kutuhalamma, who is a doctor, Chittoor ZP chairperson started her political career in Congress and joined TDP in 2014. However, she resigned from TDP about a year and a half ago.

Kuthuhalamma contested as a Congress candidate from Vepanjeri (presently GD Nellore) constituency in 1985 and won as an MLA for the first time. She was elected to the Assembly from the same seat in 1989, 1999 and 2004 and served as the Minister of Health and Child Welfare during the late former CM Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy's regime. She served as Deputy speaker of AP Legislature in 2007 and worked as a speaker.

After being denied a Congress seat, she contested as an independent candidate and lost and won from GD Nellore as MLA on behalf of Congress. She joined TDP in 2014 after the bifurcation of the state and contested from GD Nellore and lost.