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Updated: Sep 21, 2019 16:43 IST

Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former MP from Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor, Naramalli Sivaprasad, who remained an actor at heart, died at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals after a brief illness on Saturday afternoon at 68 years of age.

Sivaprasad, survived by wife Vijayalakshmi and two daughters, was hospitalized in Tirupati last month for kidney-related diseases before being shifted to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.

Sivaprasad was born Pottipalli in Chittoor district on July 11, 1951 and was a qualified doctor who went on to make a career in acting in theater and films before entering politics. He continued to act and produce Telugu films even after becoming a politician.

He was first elected to the state assembly in 1999 from Satyavedu, a reserved constituency and became minister of Information and Public Relations in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Chittoor parliamentary constituency twice in 2009 and 2014.

Sivaprasad drew media attention with his theatrics at the Parliament with crazy attires and strange make-ups during his party’s agitation for special category status for Andhra Pradesh in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

He dressed up like the German dictator Adolf Hitler, Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi, Saint Annamacharya and even mythological characters like Sage Vishvamitra, Parashurama and Narad Muni, besides wearing robes like a washerman, Swachh Bharat worker, a student, a woman and a transgender.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu condoled Sivaprasad’s death.