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This is an archive article published on September 4, 2009

‘He defeated defeat itself’

Perhaps the most powerful Congress Chief Minister,YSR Reddy didn’t baulk at taking gambles,yet never lost an election. The sometimes controversial leader was clearly a dangerous opponent,but he was also known as someone who could turn foes into friends ....

Dr Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy was perhaps the most powerful Congress Chief Minister in the country,one who had proved that he could win elections on his own merit. YSR,as he was popularly known,along with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,was the Congress’s answer to the BJP’s troika of Narendra Modi,Raman Singh and Shivraj Chouhan,who were touted by their party as models of governance just before the recent Lok Sabha polls. And this was his more enduring contribution to not just the Congress’s success in 2009,but to the national imagination.

Friends & Foes

TRACING his beginnings to the ruthless,often cutthroat politics of Rayalseema — from where he was elected as an MLA four times and as an MP for four terms (he never lost an election) — YSR,who turned 60 in July,was known to be a dangerous opponent. But he was also known as someone who could turn foes into friends — political and otherwise.

To his loyalists,he was very generous,often giving unexpected rewards,as in the case of his former driver,Suryam. About 20 years ago,while YSR was still a budding politician in his native place of Kadapa,Suryam took a bullet meant for him during an attack by a rival faction. Since then,Suryam was like a family member,usually seen a few inches behind YSR throughout the day,like a shadow.

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P Sabita Indra Reddy,wife of a former TDP minister who was killed by Maoists,was rewarded by YSR when the shy housewife decided to join the Congress instead of the TDP. YSR gave her a Congress ticket to contest the 2004 elections,which she won. When she was re-elected earlier

this year,he made her the state’s first woman home minister.

Two days ago,K Roja,former actress and president of the TDP women’s wing who had spewed venom against the Congress and YSR during the elections,went to meet him,seeking to join the Congress. When she came out of the meeting,she said: “Although I said a lot of bad things about him,he treated me like a daughter today.”

“He could win over even his most ardent detractors and foes,and that is the strength that made him such a powerful leader. He never forgot a friend or a favour and,more importantly,he repaid it in manifold,” says YSR’s longtime friend,K V P Ramachandra Murthy.

The Congress leader

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COMBINING a shrewd strategy of making his loyalists more loyal and elbowing out his rivals and detractors,YSR went on to become the most powerful Congress leader in more than 30 years in the state. “He would pick up novices and back them with all his might even in the face of dissent from within the party. They all turned out to be winners,” says Congress leader Tulasi Reddy.

His grit and determination,as well as his ability to gamble politically and take risks,brought the Congress back to power in 2004,after a long gap of 13 years. Known among his supporters as the “Lion of Kadapa”,it was his down-to-earth charm that led to his emergence as an extremely popular and loved leader.

It was in the scorching heat of April 2003,against the advice of some of his party leaders,that YSR started a marathon 1,450-km padayatra across the state to assess the condition of people living in backward areas. The grueling three-month walk through some of the most backward constituencies took its toll,and YSR collapsed while he was nearing Rajahmundhry. He was bedridden for nearly five days. Though a team of doctors advised him to return home and rest,YSR refused to give up the padayatra. He managed to walk along coastal Andhra,right up to Itchapuram bordering Orissa,where it ended. A year later the Congress swept to power.

“It was a gamble that paid off. Chandrababu Naidu was already in trouble due to the failure of monsoons. By concentrating only on urban areas,information technology and industry,Naidu had alienated himself from the masses. The iron was hot and YSR struck first with his padayatra and then by picking and backing winners,” says a Congress leader.

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The padayatra proved to be the turning point in the way YSR positioned himself and deeply influenced his politics and policies when in office. Through his schemes and proposals,he kept in touch with the masses,giving them a stake in the state’s growth. His Sundays were reserved for mass contact programmes. Soon,he skillfully turned the milieu of aggressive politics he had been originally schooled in,to transform into a mass leader — putting his thundering oratorial skills and forthright manner to good use.

The people’s CM

AS the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly during Chandrababu Naidu’s rule,YSR had often suffered political wilderness. But even as Naidu was launching Cyberabad,hosting Bill Clinton in the state capital,and being feted as CEO CM,YSR sensed an opportunity to strike back. As his official website profile puts it,YSR knew how “to defeat defeat itself.” In 2000,he,along with the Left,launched a protest against the raised power tariffs,leading MLAs in a high-profile hunger strike that carried on for two weeks.

Earlier this year,the line-up against YSR was considered quite formidable — friends-turned-foes like the Left and TRS who joined hands with the TDP to form a “Mahakootami” (grand alliance),and popular filmstar Chiranjeevi who was making his political debut. But YSR confidently told several of his unbelieving and diffident party leaders in New Delhi that he would better his record of 29. And he did just that,giving the Congress

its largest chunk of MPs in the country — 33 out of the total 42 seats in the state.

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In a party which is not known to look kindly upon chief ministers with too much clout,YSR was an exception,having won the trust of both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was allowed a free hand in running the state and fashioning its politics. So,despite accounting for 33 LS seats,none of the state Congress MPs,barring Jaipal Reddy,who was never seen as a threat to YSR,found place in the Union Cabinet.

Since May 2004,YSR launched over 20 schemes for the poor — health,education,minority and Dalit welfare — and made sure that the delivery mechanisms worked and benefits percolated down the chain.

The Rajiv Arogyasri Rural Health Insurance scheme,which was very close to his heart,is now being replicated by the Centre in Delhi. The scheme provides for free healthcare to low income groups,including free surgeries that are performed at some of the best government and private hospitals. He also launched a well-publicised ambulance-at-your-doorstep scheme under Rajiv Arogyasri.

Then there was Abhaya Hastam,a pension scheme for women which endeared him to the 1.20 crore poor and destitute women across the state. The Indiramma low-cost housing scheme meant that even BPL families would have at least a two-room house to live in. He also re-introduced the Rs 2-per-kg rice scheme while providing free power to farmers and subsidies for buying seeds and fertilisers.

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His idea of refunding fees to backward class and minority students is ensuring that fewer youths drop out of schools and colleges due to financial difficulties. Despite warnings of a cash crunch from the Finance Department and the 13th Finance Commission,YSR embarked on a massive irrigation programme involving 61 new irrigation projects including a 600-km-long canal so that lakhs of hectares of land in remote and dry areas could be irrigated and several hundred towns and villages could get drinking water.

In effect,YSR re-defined and broadbased the idea of economic reforms,ensuring it made sense to the electorate,so much so that even the Satyam scam,which detractors claimed would hurt him,left him unscathed. He had no qualms about dramatic shifts in his politics,as and when necessary. After championing the cause of Telangana,he did a

notorious “T-turn” after the polls were over.

When it came to the extreme Left,who were becoming increasingly powerful when he first assumed office in 2004,he was first open to talking to them. But when necessary,YSR was very flexible about shutting the doors on them,mounting one of the most aggressive anti-Naxal operations.

During his first term,there were allegations of nepotism and being clannish (promoting the Reddys only),but none of the charges really stuck where voters were concerned.

Early years

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TILL he completed his MBBS from Gulbarga University,YSR was not involved in active politics. But he showed leadership qualities even while he was an intern at S V Medical College at Tirupati — he was elected as the president of the house surgeons’ association at the medical college for three successive years. He later returned to his hometown of Pulivendula in Kadapa district,where he ran a medical practice for five years. Till he entered the poll fray from Pulivendula,which he represented in the Assembly since 1980. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa for four terms.

He was a minister in the cabinet of T Anjaiah between 1980-83,after which the TDP came to power. He was president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) from 1983 to1985,and again from 1998 to 2000. From 1999 to 2004,he was the Leader of Opposition in the 11th Assembly.

A Christian,YSR is survived by his wife,Vijayalakshmi,daughter Sharmila and son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy,who he saw as his successor. Jagan Mohan Reddy,who won the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat this time,has launched his own media house — Sakshi newspaper and TV channel.

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