N Janardhan Reddy took the decision to ban the People’s War Group for the first time
A file picture shows Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy having a discussion with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Photo: DC archives)
Hyderabad: Rajya Sabha member and former CM Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy passed away in the early hours of Friday. He was 80.
Janardhana Reddy, who had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, had been admitted to Nims a few days back. His body was shifted to his residence, Janapriya, in Somajiguda. The funeral will be held on Saturday in his native village Vakadu in Nellore district.
The former CM is survived by his wife, former minister Rajya Laxmi, and four sons. Raghuveera Reddy, TPCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah, Union minister K. Chiranjeevi, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and others paid their homage to the departed leader.
Born in Vakadu on February 20, 1935, Janardhana Reddy was a teacher in Vakadu Educational Institutions. He entered politics in 1972 and became a member of the Rajya Sabha. In 1978, he became the state Congress general secretary and was elected to the Legislative Council. He was minister for revenue in M. Channa Reddy’s cabinet in 1978 and worked in various cabinets headed by T. Anjaiah, Bhavanam Venkatram and Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy, till 1983.
He was also the Pradesh Congress Committee president in 1988 before he joined Channa Reddy’s cabinet again in 1989. After Channa Reddy quit his post, Janardhana Reddy became Chief Minister, in 1990. He was succeeded by Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy in 1992. Later, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bapatla (1998), Narasaraopet (1999) and Visakhapatnam (2004). In 2010, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and he still had about two years of tenure left.
In 2009, when he was 75-years-old, he was offered the Governor’s post in lieu of foregoing his claim to the Nellore Lok Sabha seat, which had been declared a ‘general’ seat.
Janardhana Reddy boldly refused and told his bosses in Delhi, “I am not that old to occupy Raj Bhavan. I am a politician. What can I do as a Governor?”
During one of the most turbulent times in Hyderabad’s history — the communal clashes of December 1990, which forced Channa Reddy to quit as Chief Minister — the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi catapulted Janardhan Reddy to the top post and within a few days, he brought the law and order situation under control.
He was the second Chief Minister from Nellore district (after Bezwada Gopala Reddy who was CM in 1955). As Chief Minister, he took the bold decision to ban the People’s War Group and other extremist groups for the first time. In retaliation, Maoists blasted a landmine when Janardhana Reddy was travelling with his family to his village Vakadu on September 7, 2007. Though both Janardhana Reddy and his wife Rajyalaxmi escaped unhurt, three of his followers died in the incident.
Janardhana Reddy was forced to step down as Chief Minister following strictures from the AP High Court on the controversial awarding of licences to private medical and engineering institutions in the state, and being directed by P. V. Narasimha Rao to do so.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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