Puchalapalli Sundarayya was a founder member of the Communist Party of India and a great leader of the working class movement of India. Comrade Sundarayya, popularly known as Comrade PS died at the age of 72 on the morning of May 19, 1985.

Even those who differed with Comrade Sundarayya loved and respected him. He was selfless man and the devotion and sincerity with which he served the cause of toiling masses and common people, had endeared him to one and all. He was a great internationalist leader of working class. He was one of the leaders who fought against right and left deviations in the Communist movement in India.

At an early age of 17, he discontinued his studies halfway in the intermediate class and plunged into the non-cooperation movement launched by the Congress party in 1930. He was arrested and sent to Borstal school, where he established his relations with Socialists and Communists. On his release, he started organising the agricultural labourers in his own village and he was victim to the anger of his own kith and kin.

Guided by Comrade Amir Hyder Khan, he joined the Communist Party, at a time when there was a ban on the Party, subjected by the then British rulers. Like many other Communists, he worked in the Congress Socialist Party. He was for some time the Secretary of the Congress Socialist Party. After the arrest of Comrade Amir Hyder Khan, he took up the task of building the Communist party in the Southern States of Andhra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, at the instance of Central Committee of the Party. Com. Sundarayya along with Com. S.V.Ghate were responsible for the entry of many comrades like EMS Namboodiripad, P.Krishna Pillai and A.K.Gopalan.

When different communist groups came together and merged in an all-India centre in 1936, Com. Sundarayya became the member the Central Committee. During the same year, he founded the All India Kisan Sabha and worked as joint secretary of that organisation for some time. He led underground life between 1939 and 1942, when he was haunted by the police.

The ban on the party was lifted in 1943, when the first All India conference of the party was held at Bombay. He was again elected to the Central Committee in the second party Congress held at Calcutta. Com. Sundarayya, who was already associated with the ongoing heroic Telangana armed struggle, got himself totally involved in it and was one of its important leaders. He went underground between 1948 and 1952.

He was re-elected to the Central Committee in 1952 when a special party conference was held. He was also elected to the Polit Bureau.

He was elected to Rajya Sabha from the Madras Assembly constituency after the first General Elections in 1952 and became the leader of the Communist group in Parliament. He was re-elected to Central Committee and the Polit Bureau in the third party Congress in Vijayawada and in the fourth Congress held at Palghat.

He was elected to the State Assembly and remained a member of that House till 1967. He contested again and got elected in 1978. He continued till 1983 and, thereafter, did not contest. He was the leader of the Communist Party of India’s group in the Assembly and later the leader of CPI(M) group.

He was elected to the Central Executive and the Central Secretariat of the Party at the fifth Party Congress held at Amritsar. However, he resigned both the positions protesting against the revisionist policies of the dominant leadership of CPI. He was arrested and imprisoned during November 1962 at the time of India-China border war.

Those who fought against revisionism organised the Seventh Party Congress in October-November 1964 and adopted a New Party Programme, electing Com. Sundarayya as General Secretary of the Party. He was re-elected to that post in the eighth and ninth Party Congress. He remained Party’s General Secretary till 1976.