Narasimheswara Sarma studied law at Madras University and joined the Congress during its Madras session in 1887. He began his career as a lawyer as a member of the Visakhapatnam bar in 1891. He was municipal chairman of Visakhapatnam twice and he did good work to improve the town. As a result of his success in public life, he was nominated to the council of the presidency of Madras in 1906 and developed a keen interest in politics. He was responsible for The Madras Estates Land Act (1908), which gave rights to tenant farmers in estates and streamlined estate and inam revenue administration, though he himself was a holder of zamindari and inam lands. He was the first president of the Andhra Mahasabha held at Bapatla in 1913. In 1914 he went to London as a member of a Congress delegation along with Jinnah, S.Sinha, Lajpat Rai, Mazhar- ul- Haque and Samarth, where he delivered speeches in Kensington hall and also spoke before groups of British parliamentarians appraising them of Indian problems and the need for political reform. He quit active legal practice at a very young age as he felt it would be contradictory to his position in public life. He became a member of the imperial council in 1916. In 1918 he put forth a resolution in the imperial council recommending linguistic provinces . This was opposed vehemently, ironically by Jinnah. He was a champion of indianization of services and strove hard for the development of industry, agriculture and education and took great pains to develop a well regulated banking system in the country. He strove hard for the amelioration of indentured labor in Africa, Fiji, etc. He was considered one of the foremost authorities in land tenures, revenue and estate matters in the country. He stressed the need for the development of a national capital city and took great interest in the development of New Delhi. He fought with the British establishment for release of adequate funding for the development of Delhi, a fact acknowledged by Lutyens and Baker in their book Indian Summer.
