Tanguturi Prakasam - Post-independence

Post-independence

He visited Hyderabad state in 1948, while the Nizam was still in power, although Prime Minister Nehru warned against doing so because of concern for his personal safety. He met Qasim Rizvi, the leader of the Razakars and warned him about pushing his luck too far. The Razakars were impressed by his courage and accorded him a march of honour.

In 1952, he formed the Hyderabad State Praja Party (Hyderabad State People’s party) and ensured that all the sitting ministers of the Congress Party were defeated. However, Praja party could not come into power by its own and the coalition that he cobbled up collapsed even before a show of strength could be contemplated.

Meanwhile, in December 1952, Potti Sriramulu died fasting for the cause of a separate state for the Telugu-speaking people. On 1 October 1953, the state of Andhra was created and Prakasam was unanimous choice for Chief minister for the new state.He was a not only party's choice but peoples choice too. However, due to opposition from the communists and halting support from the socialists, the government fell after a year. Mid-term elections were held in 1955 by which time Prakasam had more or less retired from active politics. On 1 November 1956, Telugu speaking parts of the erstwhile Hyderabad state were merged in the Andhra state to form Andhra Pradesh. Marathi speaking parts (Aurangabad region) of the Hyderabad state were merged with Bombay State (which later split into Gujarat and Maharashtra) and Kannada speaking parts (Gulbarga region) were merged with Mysore State. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, a future President of India and a staunch follower of Prakasam became the chief minister. Prakasam was active in touring the state promoting Harijan issues(Dalit issues). On one such visit to a Harijanwada near Ongole, he suffered from severe sunstroke. He was admitted in a Hyderabad hospital and died on 20 May 1957.He died as a poor man and a hungry man.His Grandson is a bachelor class V employee in Ongole even today and stays with his mother,Annapurnamma (Prakasam's youngest son's wife).