People's Democracy

A LIFE OF SACRIFICES

COMRADE Lavu Bala Gangadhara Rao, popularly known as LBG, was born on August 3, 1921, in a rich farmer’s family in Krapa village of Tenali taluk, Guntur district. His father was Lavu Subrahmanyam and mother Lakshmikantamma. He married Sarojini when he was leading underground in 1947. His only son is settled in Visakhapatnam.

Gangadhara Rao joined the Communist Party in 1938 when he was an intermediate student at A C College in Guntur. In his long political life, he spent 8 years and 3 months underground and underwent imprisonment thrice, for a total of 2 years and 5 months. While underground, he spent 18 months in Nallamala forests. During the Telangana armed struggle, LBG led some of the fighting squads as secretary of the Amarabad region of the party.

LBG served as a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee for 20 years and as a member of its Polit Bureau for 10 years, from 1989 onwards. He was secretary of the CPI(M)’s Andhra Pradesh state committee from May 1985 till November 1991 and a member of its state secretariat till the recent state conference of the party at Anantapur. Till his death, he discharged his responsibilities as the managing trustee of Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

At the call of the Communist Party, LBG in 1943 sold his property and gave the proceeds to the party. After having a dispute with his father, he got his share of the property, sold away the 4 acres of wet land of his share, and handed the proceeds over to the party.

When LBG and Major Jaipal Singh went into a forest under a scheme prepared by Comrade Sundarayya, an unlocked gun got fired when a comrade’s foot fell on its trigger. Most of the bullets hit LBG. But these only pierced through his legs and he remained out of danger. 

Gangadhara Rao contested the byelection for Duggirala constituency in Guntur district in 1954, as the Communist Party’s candidate, and lost by a slender margin. From Tenali constituency, he contested for Lok Sabha in 1980, as the CPI(M) candidate. 

Communist and other newspapers published his articles and interviews on the political situation on various occasions. He also wrote several books. He visited China and Cuba twice and the Soviet Union and Algeria once.