Kotha Raghuramaiah (1912–1979) was a veteran Indian politician and barrister who served as the Union Cabinet minister of Defence, Civil Aviation, Petroleum & Chemicals, Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs. He is one of the longest-serving cabinet minister in the History of India. The Members of Parliament from the Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha participate in a friendly Cricket competition annually for the honor of lifting the Raghuramaiah Trophy named after him.

Family

Raghuramaiah was born on 6 August 1912 to Kotha Jagannadham and Kotamma in Sangam Jagarlamudi in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, South India. He had two brothers and six sisters. He married Suguna Jampala in 1936. Later, he was married to Lakshmi Raghuramaiah, a prominent scholar-activist in the cause of women upliftment in India on 3 July 1937.

Education

Raghuramaiah was educated at Andhra Christian College, Guntur and Lucknow University. He studied Bar-at-Law from Middle Temple in United Kingdom. He was awarded gold medal in the All India Inter-University Oratorical Contest (English) held at Lucknow, 1932–33. He was conferred Doctorate Degrees by Andhra University in 1975 and by Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati in January 1977.

Career

Raghuramaiah joined Government of India service as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Law. He relinquished the job to enter active politics in 1949. He was elected to the Indian Parliament from Tenali and Guntur. He served as a Union cabinet minister of Defence, Civil Supplies, Petroleum and Chemicals and Parliamentary Affairs.

Honours

Raghuramaiah served the Indian Parliament for three decades from 1952 to 1979. He died on 6 June 1979.