Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu was an Indian politician and freedom fighter, chief minister of the Madras Presidency, and subsequently became the first chief minister of the new Andhra state, created by the partition of Madras State along linguistic lines. He was also known as Andhra Kesari.
Tanguturi Prakasam was born on August 23, 1872 in Vinodarayuni Palem village of the Madras Presidency, which is now part of Prakasam district. He studied law at Madras and returned to Rajahmundry for practice. He was elected as the chairman of Rajahmundry Municipality at the age of 31, in 1904. He completed the barrister course in England and returned to India in 1907. As he was one of the few but great Telugu barristers in Madras, his career was lucrative and earned lakhs of rupees a year. He was fondly called Prakasam Pantulu, by his parties and friends in Madras. He became general secretary of the Congress party in 1921 and gave up his barrister career. He was titled ‘Andhra Kesari’ when he showed his bare chest to the British guns in the ‘Simon Go Back’ movement. Eventually, Prakasam became the 12th chief minister of Madras Presidency and then later the first chief minister of Andhra State. He was elected as Ongole MLA in 1955 and died on 20 May 1957 in Osmania Hospital due to sunstroke in his constituency tour for 18 days. Following the instructions of Mahatma Gandhi, Prakasam Pantulu led the Salt March in Devarampadu village with 450 people in 1930. He continued the agitation for five months until the British government removed the tax on salt. Commemorating the win, the then AICC president Babu Rajendra Prasad unveiled the 30 feet high ‘Vijaya Stupa’, having a Gandhi statue atop it, at the same place. Prakasam Pantulu gave away his properties for the Indian freedom struggle. Though he became the chief minister of Madras presidency and Andhra state later, he didn’t allow his sons into politics as his successors. He said once, “I am not going to encourage family politics. If they are worth it, they should lead themselves from the stage of a party worker.” That is why the Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu is respected by all leaders of his time, even though they are from other parties, but no one dared to follow his legacy.