Dadichiluka Veera Gouri Sankara Rao

Shankar Rao is an adivasi, and was born 30 April 1968 in Palika Valasu village. He earned his M.B.B.S. and later specialised in anesthesiology in earning his medical doctorate. He became active in the T.D.P. in his district, and was nominated to and served in the Andhra Pradesh L.A.

In the 1999 general election Shankar Rao was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha from Parvathipuram constituency, a seat reserved for members of the scheduled tribes. He won with 304,000 votes (49.54%) to 290,719 (47.38%) for his Congress opponent, Vyricherla Kishore Chandra Suryanarayana Deo, and 18,952 for two minor opponents. He was appointed to the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Labour and Welfare, and served until the 2004 election, when he sought unsuccessfully re-election.[1]

He is married to Swarnalata. He enjoys reading and writing poetry; a collection of his poetry in Telugu, Assa Geevulu, has been published.