Kothapalli Jayashankar (6 August 1934 – 21 June 2011), popularly known as Professor Jayashankar, was an Indian academic and social activist. He was a leading ideologue of the Telangana Movement. He fought for a separate state beginning in 1952. He often stated that unequal distribution of river water was the root cause of the separate Telangana movement. He was the former Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University and an activist in the Separate Telangana Movement.