y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy (Telugu: యేడుగురి ఎస్ రాజశేఖర రెడ్డి) (8 July 1949 – 2 September 2009), popularly known as YSR, was a two-time Chief Minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh. He is seen as the most popular Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh due to various welfare schemes and development programs he took up for the people of his state.In the words of Yahoo 'YSR was a mass leader who ruled the hearts of people in Andhra Pradesh'.The BBC has called him a champion of social welfare schemes.
He was elected to the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency for four terms and to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for five terms from the Pulivendula constituency. At the time of his death, he held the record of not losing any election throughout his political career. In 2003 he undertook a three-month-long paadayaatra, or walking tour of 1475 km in hot summer, across several districts in Andhra Pradesh to get into power.He led his party to victory in the next general and assembly elections held in 2004 and also the next election in 2009. He is the only chief minister of AP to have come back to power after being in office for a full term.
On 2 September 2009, a helicopter carrying Reddy went missing in the Nallamala forest area in a mysterious way. On the morning of 3 September 2009, media agencies reported
that the helicopter wreckage had been found on top of Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles
(74 km) from Kurnool. This was later confirmed by the Prime Minister's office and all five
people aboard were pronounced dead at the scene. Some section of the people believes
that there is a conspiracy behind YSR’s death.
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Personal life and religious beliefs
Reddy was married to Vijaya Lakshmi.They have a son, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, a
politician, and a daughter, Sharmila.His younger brother Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy is
also a Congress(I) politician.
Reddy's parents were devout Christian and he was buried according to Christian rites.
He had also visited Bethlehem and other historically important Christian places in Israel
twice. Although Reddy was a third generation Christian, he used to have “darshan”
of Hindu deity Lord Venkateswara. He regularly visited the central temple of the god at
Tirupati.
Career
Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy practiced medicine for sometime in his native Kadapa District.
The hospital his father built for him atPulivendula is still running. His family also built and
ran a degree college and a polytechnic college at Pulivendula which was later handed
over to the Loyola Group of Educational Institutions. Another junior college at
Simhadripuram, a small town in the vicinity ofPulivendula, is run by his family.
He never lost an election through out his political career of 30 year Positions held
- Minister of state for rural development (1980–82)
- Excise minister (1982)
- Education minister (1982–83)
- Leader of Opposition, Andhra Pradesh State Assembly (1999–2004)
- Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (2004–2009)
- Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (20-May-2009 To 02-Sep-2009)
As Chief Minister
- Providing free electricity as promised for farmers was initiated from the very
- first day of his tenure as CM in 2004.
- Rajiv Arogya Shree – A health insurance for rural people having white card
- (people identified by government as below poverty line), where the government
- pays the entire price of any surgery up to 200,000 rupee
- Emergency service(consisting of 108 & 104)- Free Ambulance service for
- all the public, though this was started by Satyam later adopted by government of A.P
- Pavala Vaddi — a program that provides loans to people at 3% per year so as
- to encouragethem to take up small scale businesses and entrepreneurship primarily
- targeted at rural women
- Indiramma illu — a program for construction of houses for the rural masses by
- charging a small amount and the government spends the remaining amount.
- Rs 2/KG of rice scheme
- Increase in the minimum support price for rice.
- Reimbursement of full college fees for backward sections, reservations for minorities
- were also implemented.
- Food security, Access to credit and other social aspects during his tenure as
- chief minister were also implemented Apart from these schemes, his governmen
- t stood as the role model in implementing the central governments flagship program
- – the NREGA.The main emphasis during his tenure was on social welfare with a
- majority of his schemes targeting in improving the livelihood of the rural masses.
- The BBC has called him a champion of social welfare schemes
- Extremist Naxalite movement in the state of AP had been reduced significantly,
- primarily due to the lack of support from rural masses as his governments welfare
- programs reached them
His tenure also saw significant weakening of the violent extremist left-wing Naxalite
movement that was rampant in the state when he assumed office in 2004.The movement
was so intense that the former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's car was blasted by
them in October 2003. A major reason for the weakening of the Naxalite movement is
either due to negotiations which resulted in their surrender, for the schemes offered by
Mr. Reddy's Government, or due to the increase in number of police checkposts and
intelligence.he is the one of the most popular chief ministers in India.
Other Projects
Jala Yagnam-To irrigate 1,00,00,000 acres of land through construction of major,
medium and minor irrigation projects.This made Andhra Pradesh take big strides in
areas of Sustainable Agriculture by introducing as wastelands will be cultivable.
Election 2009
Reddy's major campaign slogan for the 2009 election was "Development and the
credibility". He was seeking a mandate on his performance in his previous tenure.
He did not promise any new schemes before the election and only promised continuation
and minor extensions to the ongoing schemes. The opposition parties had formed a
'Grand alliance' (mahakootami) comprising of the major opposition party – the Telugu
Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the communist parties.
The TDP had promised numerous freebies including free color televisions and the unique
cash transfer scheme (CTS) . There was also a new partyPRP floated by a popular film star
Chiranjeevi. Under his leadership congress came into power for the second time.
In the elections, Reddy's party (INC) surpassed the required majority in the assembly (148 seats)
by winning 156 seats. It also bagged 33 seats in parliament out of 42 seats. This was seen as a
very big victory for Reddy since he was able to come back to power for the second consecutive
term against the odds of anti-incumbency and an almost unified opposition.He became the
Congress party’s first chief minister since 1969, that is, in four decades, to be able to seek
votes in his own name, and win
Reddy was sworn in as the chief minister for the term of 2009–2014 on 20 May 2009.
The ceremony was held in Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and attended by a
crowd of around 20,000 peopleHe is the only CM of Andhra Pradesh to come back to power
after serving a full 5 year term
Controversies
The surrender of more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) by Reddy to the government during his own
term in December 2006 was criticized by the opposition parties who demanded resignation
from his post.Naidu also called for Reddy's resignation after a 2007 Khammampolice
shooting resulted in eight deaths.
Main article: 2009 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister helicopter crash
Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's Bell 430 helicopter went missing on Wednesday,
2 September 2009 at 9:35 am. Begumpet andShamshabad Air Traffic controllers
lost contact with the aircraft at 10:02 am while it was passing through the dense
Nallamala forest area.The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, P. Ramakanth Reddy,
said that inclement weather had forced the helicopter off-course.Although the sparsely
populated forest area is considered to be stronghold of the outlawed Naxal communist
insurgents, the National Security Advisor of India ruled out the possibility of the
Naxals bringing down the helicopter.
The Indian Prime Minister's Office confirmed the helicopter's crash on the morning of 3
September and the death of all aboard, including Reddy, his special secretary
P. Subrahmanyam, chief security officer A. S. C. Wesley, Group Captain
S. K. Bhatia and Captain M. S. Reddy .The Director General of Police said that the
bodies of Reddy and others were charred beyond recognition and had to be identified
on the basis of clothing.The autopsy of all the bodies was carried out at Kurnool Medical College.
An investigation eventually concluded that the factors that caused that crash included
the fact that the crew became fixated for more than six minutes in trying to find out
what was behind a problem with their transmission oil pressure system, and they
became distracted from the worsening weather. It was also noted that the pilots
of the helicopter never discussed the bad weather, diverting,
or returning to base.
Reddy's body was buried on 4 September at Idupulapai in Kadapa district with full
state honors in accordance with Christian rites
Aftermath
Then Finance Minister Konijeti Rosaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister following
his death.The media reported that many people died of shock after hearing of
Reddy's death(either due to heart attack or by committing suicide) and stated
that this is first of its kind for any politician
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