Hyderabad: The demise of Konijeti Rosaiah on Saturday marks the end of an era in Telugu politics. In his six-decade-long illustrious political career, Rosaiah climbed up the ladder from getting elected as an MLC four times, MLA twice, Lok Sabha member once to becoming Chief Minister in 2009 and Governor in 2011.
He was known for his excellent oratory skills and command on Parliamentary practices and procedures. As a member of the House, he used to dominate the proceedings in Legislative Assembly and Council by putting up effective arguments on any issue that came up for discussion in the House irrespective of whether he was sitting in the ruling party benches or Opposition benches.
A Congress stalwart, Rosaiah was born on July 4 in 1933, in Vemuru village of Guntur district. He studied Commerce at Guntur Hindu College. Rosaiah served as the Finance Minister for the longest period under Congress Chief Ministers Marri Chenna Reddy, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy and Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. He holds a record of sorts for presenting the highest number of budgets in AP Legislative Assembly for 15 times including seven times in a row.
The untimely demise of Rajasekhar Reddy on September 2, 2009 in a helicopter crash, led to Rosaiah becoming the Chief Minister for the first time in his decades-old political career on September 3, 2009. As the Chief Minister, Rosaiah faced the biggest challenges in the form of Telangana statehood agitation.
Although the six-decade long struggle of Telangana people of achieving statehood to Telangana was realised in June 2014, the process of formation of Telangana state took a giant leap forward only when Rosaiah was the Chief Minister of Undivided AP in 2009.
Following violent incidents in Telangana due to KCR's arrest on November 29, Rosaiah convened an all party meeting in Secretariat on December 7, 2009 and sent a report to the Centre stating that a political consensus emerged on Telangana state formation.
Based on this report, the then Congress-led UPA government at the Centre took a decision in favour of granting statehood to Telangana.
