Hyderabad, Nov 16 (IANS) Former union minister and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) leader Parvathaneni Upendra died here Monday after a brief illness, family sources said. He was 73.

Upendra is survived by wife, three sons and a daughter who is married to industrialist and parliament member from Vijayawada L. Rajagopal.

Upendra, who was minister for information and broadcasting in V.P. Singh's cabinet, was suffering from kidney related ailment. He was admitted to a private hospital six days ago.

Upendra quit ruling Congress party in November last year to join the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) floated by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi.

Born July 4, 1936, in West Godavari district, Upendra did his graduation in journalism from Andhra University.

He worked in an English newspaper and as public relations officer in the railways before joining the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) soon after it was launched by actor-turned-politician N.T. Rama Rao in early 1980s.

Considered close to NTR, he served as TDP general secretary and was elected twice to the Rajya Sabha. He served as union minister for information and broadcasting in the Janata Dal government led by V.P.Singh 1989-90.

He quit the TDP following differences with NTR and joined the Congress 1994. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vijayawada in 1996 and re-eleced in 1998.

He, however, was more or less idle since 1999. While joining the PRP, he had said that the Congress leadership did not use his services either at the national level or in the state.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, PRP president Chiranjeevi and other leaders have mourned his death.