14th Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh
Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy (8 July – 2 September ), popularly known as YSR, was an Indian politician. He served as the 14th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from to Reddy was elected (, , and ) four terms to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa and was also elected (, , , , and ) six terms to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Pulivendula. Over the course of his career, he won every election that he contested, either to Assembly or Lok Sabha.
On 2 September , a helicopter carrying Reddy went missing in the Nallamala Forest area which was later confirmed to have crashed with all five people including Reddy pronounced dead.[7]
In , he undertook a three-month-long padayatra covering 1, kilometres (&#;mi) in 60 days across 11 districts of Andhra Pradesh as a part of his election campaign. He led the Congress party to victory in the and assembly elections.[8]
Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy was born on 8 July in Pulivendula, Kadapa district, Madras State (present day Andhra Pradesh) into a ChristianReddy family of Y. S. Raja Reddy, as eldest of five sons.[9][10] Rajasekhara Reddy completed his medical studies in Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka and served as medical officer at CSI-Campbell Mission Hospital, Jammalamadugu after completing his studies. In , he established a bed hospital.[11] His father Raja Reddy, was assassinated in a bomb attack on 23 May [12]
Reddy was married to Vijaya Lakshmi.[13] They had a son Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and a daughter Y. S. Sharmila.[14] His son Jagan and younger brother Y. S. Vivekananda are also politicians. Reddy was a practicing Christian and visited Bethlehem, Palestine, twice.[15][14]
Rajasekhara Reddy joined Indian National Congress in and won the legislative assembly elections from Pulivendula. He became minister for Rural Development from and later shifted to the Excise Ministry in and Education in – He won the and elections from the same constituency. He was appointed the state president of the Congress party by Indira Gandhi. He won from Kadapa Parliamentary constituency for four terms in 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabha. He returned to state politics and won the assembly elections from the same Pulivendula constituency and served as leader of opposition in Andhra Pradesh State Assembly from to [11][16] In , he undertook a three-month-long padayatra covering 1, kilometres (&#;mi) in 60 days across 11 districts of Andhra Pradesh as a part of his election campaign.[17]
Reddy led the congress party to victory in the assembly election and served as the 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from to During his tenure as Chief Minister, he enacted schemes to provide free electricity for farmers, a health insurance program for rural people living below the poverty line,[18] a free public ambulance service,[19] low interest loans to rural women, subsidised housing for the rural poor,[20] subsidized rice,[21] reimbursement of college fees for underprivileged and reservation for minorities.[22] His tenure also saw the weakening of the violent extremist left-wing Naxalite movement that was rampant in the state.[11] He commenced the Jala Yagnam project to irrigate 4,, hectares (10,, acres) of land through the construction of major, medium and minor irrigation projects.[23]
He led the congress party to victory in the assembly election, winning seats in the assembly.[24] He became the first incumbent chief minister from Congress since to win and was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 20 May [25][26][27]
Main article: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister helicopter crash
On 2 September , Reddy's was traveling in a Bell helicopter and the Begumpet and Shamshabadair traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at am while it was passing through the dense Nallamala forest area.[28] The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh said that inclement weather had forced the helicopter off course.[29][30] Although the sparsely populated forest area is considered to be a stronghold of the outlawed Naxal insurgents, the National Security Advisor of India ruled out the possibility of the Naxals bringing down the helicopter.[31] On 3 September, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed the crash of the helicopter and the death of all aboard along with Reddy.[32][33] The director general of police said that the bodies were charred beyond recognition and had to be identified on the basis of clothing and the autopsy was carried out at Kurnool Medical College.[34][35] An investigation eventually concluded that the factors that caused that crash was from mechanical issues and worse weather conditions.[36]
Reddy's body was buried on 4 September at Idupulapai in Kadapa district with full state honors in accordance with Christian rites.[37][38] As per media reports, people died of shock or committed suicide upon hearing the news of Reddy's death, many of whom were young supporters or those who benefited from his social welfare schemes.[39]Finance ministerKonijeti Rosaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister following Reddy's death.[40]
Reddy was accused of amassing large amounts of money during his tenure as the Chief Minister.[41] He is said to have used populist schemes like irrigation projects and housing schemes to his advantage and earned huge profits through them.[41][42] In a leaked United States diplomatic cable, the American Consul General quotes that there was "widespread corruption that was beyond the pale even for India".[42][43] The surrender of more than hectares (1, acres) of personal land by Reddy to the government to be compliant with the law in December was criticised by opposition parties. The opposition parties demanded his resignation for owning the land in violation of the law.[44]
N. Chandrababu Naidu also called for Reddy's resignation after a Khammam police shooting resulted in eight deaths.[45] A federal probe of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was also launched to investigate disproportionate assets acquired by his son, Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, in return for favours his father made to the industrialists. In May , the CBI arrested Mopidevi Venkataramana, the then Infrastructure Minister in Reddy's cabinet, who was responsible for unduly assigning the land to a private organization.[46]
On 8 July , the Government of Andhra Pradesh renamed the Kadapa district as YSR district in honour of Reddy, who was a native of that district.[47][48] On 14 September , the Andhra Cricket Association renamed ACA-VDCA cricket stadium at Visakhapatnam as Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. Two sequential films were made about him, Yatra () and Yatra 2 (). In , the Andhra Pradesh Government declared YSR Jayanti to be celebrated as Farmer's Day on 8 July every year.
| Year | Contested For | Party | Constituency | Opponent | Votes | Majority | Result | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MLA | Indian National Congress | Pulivendla | Devireddy Narayan Reddy (JP) | 47, – 27, | +20, | Won | [49] | |
| 2 | Yeddula Bali Reddy (IND) | 47, – 33, | +13, | Won | [49] | ||||
| 3 | Devi Reddy Sadasiva Reddy (TDP) | 61, – 30, | +30, | Won | [50] | ||||
| 4 | MP | Kadapa | M. V. Ramana Reddy (TDP) | 4,80, – 3,13, | +1,66, | Won | [51] | ||
| 5 | Chennamsetty Ramachandraiah (TDP) | 5,83, – 1,65, | +4,18, | Won | [51] | ||||
| 6 | Kandula Raja Mohan Reddy (TDP) | 3,68, 3,63, | +5, | Won | [52] | ||||
| 7 | Kandula Raja Mohan Reddy (TDP) | 3,74, – 3,20, | +53, | Won | [53] | ||||
| 8 | MLA | Pulivendla | Singa Reddy Satish Kumar Reddy(TDP) | 62, – 32, | +30, | Won | [54] | ||
| 9 | Singa Reddy Satish Kumar Reddy (TDP) | 74, – 33, | +40, | Won | [55] | ||||
| 10 | Singa Reddy Satish Kumar Reddy (TDP) | 1,03, – 34, | +68, | Won | [56] | ||||