Even as Telugu Desam Party leaders led by party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu have been alleging that former assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao had committed suicide due to harassment by the YSR Congress party government, conflicting reports are surfacing in the media circles over the actual reasons for his extreme step.
According to some reports in a section of the media, Kodela was facing severe financial crisis in his last days.
He had allegedly spent huge money in the elections but faced a humiliating defeat. All his financial dealings reportedly suffered badly.
Adding to that, Kodela had been under severe pressure from his son Shivaram for money for the latter’s business in Kenya.
A report said a month ago, the former Speaker had given a cheque for Rs 90 lakh to a person with whom he had some dealing in the past.
But the cheque got bounced and the person had scolded Kodela as a cheat.
When he made enquiries, he was shocked to know that Shivaram allegedly siphoned off all the money to Kenya, where he had bought 2,000 acres of land.
A humiliated Kodela made a suicide attempt by consuming sleeping pills, but, he failed. Though he had been hospitalised, Shivaram did not come from Kenya.
There were also reports that Kodela had owed some big money to a cable operator, but he could not pay back the money due to financial constraints.
This led to an argument between the two and the cable operator registered his protest by dumping a huge bundle of cable wires in front of Kodela’s residence in Narsaraopet.
“Added to this, he was feeling suffocated in the TDP as Naidu stopped entertaining him and was not taking him into confidence in the party activities. This caused a lot of depression to Kodela and in one weak moment, he committed suicide,” a media report said.