Page 121 - Demo

participation in that agitation. He was also arrested along with his wife Kusum in December 1955 for leading a protest demonstration on behalf of the displaced persons of the Nandikonda (Nagarjuna Sagar) project, when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru came to lay the foundation stone for that project at Mahanandi. Along with Rammanohar Lohia, he was arrested and imprisoned for 45 days in 1956 in the Purnia district jail in Bihar for leading a no-tax campaign of the farmers of Bihar. It was not uncommon for PVG Raju to embark on thirty mile a day padayatras all through the year in several parts of the district, state and country. He criss-crossed much of India, actively organising for the Socialist Party. Recalls Socialist old-timer Ravela Somaiah, %u201cPVG Raju was the simplest of men. MS Appa Rao and Tikkavarapu Pattabhirama Reddy studied with him in Chennai. He was so impressed by JP that he offered to drive him around on his south India tour. I recall him carrying JP's bedding to the various meets. No one would know that he came from a zamindari family. During meetings, party leaders generally stayed in hotels, but PVG would sleep on a mat in the party office and eat whatever was cooked there. My nephew who visited him in Chennai, at my request, was taken aback at the courteousness %u2013 PVG Raju walked with him to the road at the end of the visit to see him off. %u201cLadli Mohan Nigam also recalls PVG Raju's simplicity, %u201cWe were travelling in the recently introduced AC chair car. As it does not have any provision for sleeping berths we askedMr. Raju to go to the adjoining 1st class coach and sleep - he was frequently yawning and looking very uncomfortable in his sitting position. He got up from the chair and lay flat on the bare floor in between the chairs and was soon fast asleep. Many 111