Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao was an Indian National Congress politician in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He worked as an MLA of Vijayawada East legislative assembly. Ranga's elder brother, Vangaveeti Radha Krishna Rao Sr., was associated with Chalasani Venkata Rathnam, secretary of the Communist Party of India, Vijayawada. However, conflicts arose between Venkata Rathnam and Vangaveeti Radha, to get a hold on Vijayawada transport business, dominated by Datti Kanaka Rao, a follower of Chalasani Venkata Rathnam. In 1972, both Kanaka Rao, and Venkata Rathnam were allegedly murdered by Vangaveeti Radha's supporters. These events in turn led to a retaliation by a rival group, ending in the murder of Vangaveeti Radha. Upon the death of Vangaveeti Radha, his brother Mohana Ranga took over the leadership of United independent Organization with the support of student union leaders Devineni Chandrasekhar, and Devineni Rajasekhar. The power struggle between the politically powerful Mohana Ranga and the Devineni family led to the splitting of the United Independent Organization and to the alleged protracted murders of brothers Devineni Chandrasekhar in 1979 and Devineni Murali in 1988, by Mohana Ranga. Subsequently, while Ranga was staging an indefinite fast for distribution of land pattas, to residents of Giripuram, when he was attacked by a group of men allegedly led by Devineni Rajasekhar, attacked Mohana Ranga's camp and assassinated him in the early hours of 26 December 1988. Ranga's two assigned bodyguards did not intervene. The murder led to large-scale riots in Krishna, Guntur and the Godavari districts.
Personal life
Mohana Ranga was born in Katuru near Vuyyuru, located in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on 4 July 1947. He had four elder brothers: Vangaveeti Koteswara Rao, Vangaveeti Venkata Narayana Rao, Vangaveeti Sobhana Chalapathi Rao, and Vangaveeti Radha Krishna Rao Sr. who was murdered in 1974. Mohana Ranga was married to Chennupati Ratna Kumari; they had a son Radha Krishna Rao Jr., named after Ranga's brother Vangaveeti Radha Krishna Rao Sr., and a daughter, Vangaveeti Asha.
Political career
Vangaveeti Ranga entered public lifeafter the death of his brother Vangaveeti Radha Krishna. His political career began in 1981, when he ran in the municipal election and the Congress Party withdrew its official candidate in his favor. His rival in the district, Devineni Rajasekhar,, was sponsored by the Telugu Desam Party, while Ranga became a leader of the Kapu community. Ranga became an MLA for the Congress Party in 1985; Rajasekhar became a TDP MLA, and eventually a minister. Starting in 1983 both parties were implicated in gang warfare; N. T. Rama Rao was at the time the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The gang warfare in Vijayawada dated further back; Ranga had served time in prison for the murder of Rajasekhar's brother Gandhi. On 10 March 1988, Rajasekhar's brother Murali was killed, and followers of Ranga were accused. Ranga also campaigned against police abuse. On 10 July 1988, a rally called Kapunadu proclaimed him leader of the Kapus; he was in prison at the time, but after his release later that month began a bus tour called Jana Chaitanya Yatra "to expose the autocratic rule and misdeeds of Rama Rao". Rao had come to power after a van tour.
Riots
Following his death, there were riots throughout the region. The pattern of violence showed that the houses and property of Telugu Desam sympathisers who were mostly Kammas were attacked. The city of Vijayawada was under curfew for 40 days. 42 people were killed. Devineni Rajasekhar was ordered by the Chief Minister to surrender himself, and the Director-General of Police resigned. 44 people were accused of the crime; in 2002, the 33 who had not died in the meantime were all acquitted. One of them, Chalasani Venkateswara Rao, known as Pandu, was murdered in 2010.
Successors
Mohana Ranga's widow Ratna Kumari was elected MLA in 1989; in her second term, she switched from the Congress Party to the TDP. Radha Krishna also entered politics after his father's death. He was a Congress Party MLA from 2004 to 2009; later he shifted to the Praja Rajyam Party then to the YSR Congress Party in 2012, and then to TDP in 2019.
