Venkat Reddy, PAC chief, dead

Hyderabad: Public Accounts Committee chairman, former minister and five-time Congress MLA Ramreddy Venkat Reddy died here on Friday in a private hospital.

Venkata Reddy, 72, was undergoing treatment for lung cancer for some time.
He was minister for cooperation and horticulture in united AP state and served in the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinets till 2014.

Hailing from Patilingala village of Kamepally mandal, Venkata Reddy was one of the veteran Congress leaders from Khammam district. He was elected from Sujathanagar Assembly segment thrice and Palair Assembly segment twice, including in 2014. He is survived by wife Sucharitha and four daughters.
The funeral will take place on Saturday afternoon in Patilingala village.
His younger brother R. Damodara Reddy is also a former minister from neighbouring Nalgonda district.

Last year, Venkata Reddy and former Narayankhed MLA P. Kista Reddy were the frontrunners for the PAC chairman’s post and Leader of Opposition in Assembly K. Jana Reddy picked the latter.

After Kista Reddy’s death last year, Mr Jana Reddy recommended Venkata Reddy’s name. By the time the Speaker nominated Venkata Reddy as the chairman, he fell ill and could not even chair a single PAC meeting.

Several Congress leaders, including TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakara Reddy rushed to the hospital and paid homage to the leader.Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Legislative Affairs minister T. Harish Rao condoled the death of the senior MLA.