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.

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

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