When E. Hanumantha Rao, his teacher at school, moved to Rajamahendravaram, he took Prakasam along with him as that place had better opportunities for education.

He was funded for his education by Zamindar Kanchumarthi Ramachandra Rao, who was at that time received patronage from Raja Vogeti Ramakrishnayya, a wealthy landlord [citation needed] and was also a municipal councillor for a long time and an honorary magistrate in Rajamahendravaram under Ramachandra Rao.

However, as Mahatma Gandhi had done before him, Prakasam made a promise to his mother that he would abstain from eating non-vegetarian food, smoking and drinking.

In England, he joined the Royal India Society and worked for the election of Dadabhai Naoroji to the House of Commons.

After completing the barrister course with a certificate of honour in London, Prakasam relocated to Madras high court.

This was at a time when Bipin Chandra Pal, the nationalist leader from Bengal, was touring the region, making fiery speeches on nationalism.

He started attending the Congress Party sessions regularly after the Lucknow Pact and signed the Satyagraha pledge in October 1921.

He toured Kerala during the Moplah rebellion despite a ban on visitors from outside the area and had his property at Ooty attached by the government as a consequence.

In 1930, when the Congress party wanted all the legislators to resign, he did so but was not convinced about its alternative programme and hence contested and won the by-election.

Though Prakasam was in the running for Prime Minister's post, he made way for Rajaji, who returned to active politics as per the wishes of the Congress Working Committee.

With the onset of World War II, the Congress ministries resigned from office as they were not consulted by the government about India's participation.

During his tenure as Premier, Prakasam publicly declared his intention to scrap all existing textile industries in the province and replace them with khadi manufacturing and weaving units.

[3] On Vallabhbhai Patel's advice, Prakasam responded with widespread arrests and tough crackdown on arsonists.

[3] Prakasam visited Hyderabad State in 1948, while the Nizam was still in power, although Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru warned against doing so because of concern for his personal safety.

[citation needed] However, Praja party could not come into power by its own and the coalition that he put together collapsed even before a show of strength could be contemplated.

However, due to corruption charges and opposition from the communists and halting support from the socialists, the government fell after a year.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, a future President of India and a staunch follower of Prakasam, became the chief minister.

Prakasam's autobiography is titled Naa Jeevitha Yatra (My Life's Journey) and published by Telugu Samithi.