A brief profile of YS Rajasekhara Reddy

Dr. Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy (8 July 1949 – 2 September 2009) was born to Y S Raja and Jayamma Reddy in Pulivendula, Andhra Pradesh.

He represented the Indian National Congress party. He was elected to the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency for four terms. He also made it to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for five terms from the Pulivendula constituency.

Reddy took oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the term of 2009–2014 on 20 May 2009 in Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.

He comes from a family, which stood for the cause of the downtrodden masses for generations daring the wrath of feudal lords of Cuddapah district.

YSR is married to Smt. Vijayalakshmi in 1971 and is blessed with a son and a daughter. A proud-dad he is, YSR enjoys the company of his grand children to the brim- needless to mention here that he rarely finds any time to spare for his family members. YSR’s son emerged a successful entrepreneur to the utmost pleasure of his father. Son Jagan Mohana Reddy, daughter Sharmila, and their children enjoy a very special place in YSR’s world.

He graduated in medical science from M.R.College of Gulbarga. He did his House-Surgeoncy in SV Medical College, Tirupathy.

A weightlifter in his student days, his strong conviction is “ A sound soul in a sound body ”.

After completing MBBS, he served as Medical Officer at CSI Campbell Hospital, Jammalamadugu for a brief period.

In 1973 he established a 70-bed charitable hospital at Pulivendula in the name of his father, which continues to serve the poor till today.

Not many people know that he is keenly interested in reading fiction in English. His favourite author is Mario Puzo, the creator of epoch making novel “ God Father”.

In 2003 he undertook a 1400-km three-month long paadayaatra across several districts in Andhra Pradesh. He led his party to victory in the next general and assembly elections held in 2004.

From 1980-1983, as a minister, he held important portfolios related to Rural Development, Medical Health and Education.

He reached the Lok Sabha from Kadapa constituency four times and ensured victory in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly elections six times from Pulivendula constituency.

Reddy served as the leader of the opposition in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly for five years.

From 1983–1985 and 1998–2000, he was President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). Rendering Yeomen service to the party, as the president of APCC, Reddy and regained the faith and trust of the masses. From 1999 to 2004 he was the Leader of Opposition in the eleventh state assembly.

Reddy was elected as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh by the Legislature party of the Indian National Congress after they later won 185 seats of the Legislative Assembly in the May 2004 elections.

He has initiated a variety of programs, including free power supply for farmers, Jalayagnam - a large scale program to construct more than 70 pending irrigation projects in the state to improve irrigation facilities to the farmers, and an increase in the minimum support price for rice.

Arogya Shree - a health insurance scheme for rural masses where the government pays the entire price of any surgery and does not require people to pay any premium, Pavala Vaddi - a program that provides loans to people at 3% per year so as to encourage them to take up small scale businesses and entrepreneurship primarily targeted at rural woman, and several others programmes were started by him for the welfare of masses.

Reddy campaigned for the 2009 election with "Development and the credibility".

In the elections, Congress won 156 seats required for majority in the assembly. The party also won 33 seats in parliament.