Chief Minister Sri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has expressed grief over the passing away of Sri Turlapati Kutumba Rao, veteran journalist, writer and orator and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family members.

A prolific writer and good orator, the multi-faceted Kutumba Rao is a winner of numerous Awards and his contribution to Telugu literature and journalism is rich, the Chief Minister said.

Turlapati Kutumbha Rao was born in 1933 at Vijayawada. He is a former secretary to T. Prakasham, former Chief Minister of the state and is known to have mooted the idea of demarcating states on the basis of language in 1947, when India became independent. The journey of his life is recorded in his autobiography, Naa Kalam - Naa Galam, released in 2012.

He won various awards including Pratibha Puraskar from the Telugu University, Kalaprapoorna title from Andhra University and the title of Guardian of Telugu. He also received the President's Gold Medal. He was awarded with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri and he was the first journalist from Andhra Pradesh to receive the award.