Kurnool: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others were killed when their helicopter crashed on a hillock, about 49 nautical miles east of Kurnool, more than an hour it took off from Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The charred bodies and the wreckage of the twin-engined Bell 430 helicopter were located at 8.30 AM today on a hillock, eight kms from Kurnool, 23 hours after it went missing while flying to Chittoor in south Andhra Pradesh.
"With very deep sense of regret we have to announce the death of YS Rajashekhar Reddy. He was a tall leader and it is a big loss to the country," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi.
The helicopter appeared to have hit a tree, crashed and perhaps exploded. The bodies were charred and were in a state of getting decomposed because of incessant rain in the area yesterday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Ramakanth Reddy said here.
The Congress Core Group met at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi and indications were that senior minister K Rosaiah will be the Acting Chief Minister before a decision on successor to Reddy is taken.
Reddy's funeral is expected to take place in his hometown in Pulivendala in Kadappa district in southern Andhra Pradesh tomorrow.
Others who died in the crash were Special Secretary P Subramanyam, Chief Secretary A S C Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy.
The wreckage of the helicopter was strewn in bits and pieces all over the area in the hillock, Ramakanth Reddy said adding the tail piece is in tact.
The bodies were still lying at the crash spot and efforts were being made by the IAF to bring them either to Kurnool or Hyderabad. He said it will take some time for the operation to end before the bodies are brought out of the hills.
While three bodies were quickly recovered from near the wreckage, one was found a little away and it took some time to trace the fifth, Reddy said.
While the reasons for the crash were not known immediately, Chidambaram said the helicopter, which was going south towards Chittoor, had changed direction eastwards after crossing Kurnool towards Atmakur.
It crashed on a hillock between two villages, one of which is Velugodu.
"The wreckage was found by Air Force helicopters at 0830 hours on a hillock which 8 to 9 km from Atmakur between two villages one of which is Velugodu," Chidambaram said.
Reddy's body will be kept in Lal Bahadur Stadium here to enable public to pay their last respects and would be taken to Pulivendla in the afternoon.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, scheduled this morning, was cancelled as the sad news trickled in.
Several state governments declared mourning and parties also flew their flags half mast as a mark of condolence. Chidambaram said the government was in a state of deep mourning and there was a sense of grief, shock and loss at the passing away of the Chief Minister.
"We share our grief and tender condolences to the family of the Chief Minister and others who passed away in the crash," he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi are expected to go to Andhra Pradesh on Friday to pay their last respect to the departed leader.
Andhra Pradesh CM dead in chopper crash
NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has died in an air crash, home minister P Chidambaram has formally announced.
"We are in deep mourning," the home minister said, describing YSR, who led the Congress to a spectacular election victory in May this year, as "a tall leader". ( Watch Video )
"... We send our condolences to the families of YSR and the other four (who died in the helicopter crash)."
The bodies of 60-year-old Reddy, his special secretary P Subramanyam, chief security officer A S C Wesley, pilot
Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy were found on Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles east of here, besides the mangled remains of the helicopter.
YSR's mortal remains are being flown to Kurnool General Hospital. After a postmortem there, they will be brought to Hyderabad, state government sources said.
Big crowds have gathered outside the state secretariat and YSR's residence. As Thursday is also the day for the immersion of Ganesh idols at the end of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations and there is a huge traffic dislocation in the city, cops are finding it difficult to manage the situation.
The central leadership of the Congress is understood to have cleared the name of Andhra Pradesh finance minister K Rosaiah as the caretaker CM of the state.
The Union Cabinet is meeting to discuss the matter.
The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.
Nearly 24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.
The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.
Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country's biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.
YSR: A doctor with a finger on the public pulse
HYDERABAD: A doctor by training, Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, or YSR as he was popularly known, was known for his strong administrative skills and whose second stint as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh this year broke a 53-year-old jinx for the Congress party.
This May, he became the first Congress chief minister since the state was formed in 1956 to complete a full five-year term and retain power in elections. The only other chief minister who achieved the fate was NT Rama Rao of Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
One of YSR's main achievements was subduing the ultra-left Naxalite insurgency in the state that had one time gripped 21 of its 23 districts. In the process, the People's War Group (PWG), once the dominant Maoist group in India, was crushed beyond recognition.
When he took over as chief minister for the first time on May 14, 2004 from N Chandrababu Naidu of TDP, it was a dream came true for YSR. The leader from the badlands of Rayalaseema had come up the hard way in his public life spanning three decades and emerged as one of the strongest leaders the Congress has produced in the state.
He has always been a winner. Elected to the state assembly for the fifth time, YSR is also a four-time Lok Sabha member and holds the record of never losing an election.
More than once he proved why he was more popular among masses with his fingers on the public pulse.
Popular as 'people's leader' among his followers, YSR tasted success despite facing a hostile poll campaign from both the TDP-led four party Grand Alliance and the Praja Rajyam Party of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi.
YSR also emerged as one of the few leaders in the country to retain power beating the anti-incumbency factor. What has made his performance more creditable is the fact that he made no big promises and instead highlighted his performance versus the "poor credibility record" of his main rival N Chandrababu Naidu of TDP.
Banking on his performance and the numerous welfare schemes his government launched during the last five years, YSR retained power despite a three-cornered contest. The man who ran the Congress campaign on his shoulders emerged victorious in the face of hectic electioneering by top stars of the tinsel world in favour of TDP and Praja Rajyam.
Born to a Christian middle class family at Pulivendula, a small town in Kadapa district, on July 8, 1949, YSR made a modest beginning. Eldest of the five sons of YS Raja Reddy, a dynamic local leader in his heydays, he evinced interests in politics while studying at MR Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka.
After completing his MBBS, YSR served as medical officer at the Jammalamadugu Mission Hospital briefly. In 1973, he established a 70-bed charitable hospital.
He entered active politics in 1978 and was elected to the state assembly from Pulivendula. He served as state minister from 1980 to 1983 and retained the assembly seat in 1983 even when NTR swept to power with a historic victory.
Sensing a potential leader in him, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appointed YSR president of the state unit of Congress when he was only 34.
In 1989, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa and held the seat till 1999, when he shifted again to state politics. From 1998 to 2000, he again served as president of the state Congress.
Though the party lost the 1999 state elections, YSR emerged as the strongest leader of the party and became the leader of opposition.
The year 2003 was a turning point in his political career as he undertook a 64-day padyatra, or walkathon, across the state. Covering 1,500 km under the scorching sun, he received petitions from people about their problems, mainly relating to agriculture and unemployment.
It was this campaign and a strong anti-incumbency wave against Chandrababu Naidu's government which catapulted YSR to power.
His experiences during the padyatra helped him shape his policies after assuming office as he gave free electricity to farmers, waived their loans, introduced several welfare schemes like pension for the aged, widows and handicapped, housing for poor, Rs2-a-kg rice, Rajiv Arogyasri or community health insurance scheme and a massive programme to build irrigation projects.
Thanks to these initiatives, the Congress won 156 of Andhra Pradesh's 294 seats and bagged 33 of its 42 Lok Sabha seats this time.
In a message on Independence Day on Aug 15, Reddy said: "The state has witnessed tremendous growth in the past five years when compared to the growth that took place since independence. Our people are a happier lot and are embracing a bright future without any fears."
YSR's blend of populism and geniality made him unbeatable
NEW DELHI: Congress's big win in Andhra Pradesh not only powered the party to a big win in the Lok Sabha, it reinforced the party's faith in its welfare and social sector schemes that were implemented by the Y S Rajashekhar Reddy government with zeal as part of his development agenda.
His chief opponent, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, did his best to outdo YSR's populism and also levelled corruption charges but failed to dislodge the chief minister. Graft allegations did not stick as his effort to present himself as the man who thought of the poor seemed to work, negating his critics.
UPA MPs point out that YSR's personal style helped him win friends as he came across as polite. "When you meet him, there is no arrogance of power. We are praying that he is safe," said MIM's Asauddin Owaisi. TDP leader-turned-Congress MP M Jagannath said the party was waiting for news with bated breath. "He is a leader who worked for the poor. The needy are convinced of this," Jagannath said.
The 2009 Lok Sabha fight was closer than what the final results showed, particularly at the Assembly level. The Congress government was facing the burden of sweeping price rise and a TDP-Left-TRS coalition. While Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam helped Congress, there is no taking away that YSR's programmes like Arogyam and free highway ambulance service were hits.
While Arogyam funded medical treatment for BPL families, subsidised rice also helped. His irrigation programmes, though only partially effective, did make a mark and the government managed to deliver enough power to agriculturists to keep them from turning against him. With his adroit use of resources, he was able to blunt the appeal of TDP's promised direct cash transfer scheme.
YSR has a rough-and-ready aspect to him, as the bloody politics of Rayalseema suggests. Bomb culture is seen to be part of the political ethos but the leader's geniality and soft-spoken presence have made those who met him wonder at the tales they had heard. Somehow, the CM's claims to a simple lifestyle carry credence as when he says he has decided to shift to a common variety of rice at home for his meals.
The sheer weight of his success drove his rivals in the party out of the frame long ago and caused despair in the Opposition. Ironically, it used to be NTR who had a towering state-wide presence while Congress CMs always carried the stamp of being the high command's nominees. If NTR was able to invoke the "Telugu pride" plank, it is YSR who now strides the state looming larger than any regional chieftain.
The rise of YSR - A profile
Hyderabad: Dr. Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy famously known as Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR was a popular political figure in the South Indian politics. He was born in Pulivendula, Andhra Pradesh to Y. S. Raja and Jayamma Reddy on July 8, 1949.
YSR nurtured an interest in politics since his student days. Reddy was elected as the president of his college student's union while studying medical science in M.R Medical College of Gulbarga University, in neighboring Karnataka. He was also president of the House Surgeon's Association of S.V. Medical College, Tirupati, YSR also served as Medical Officer at the Jammalamadugu Mission Hospital for a brief period. In 1973, he established a 70-bed charitable hospital, named after his father Y.S. Raja Reddy at Pulivendula.
In 1975 Reddy was made the President of the Cuddapah District Youth Congress Committee. In 1978 he made his debut to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from his birthplace Pulivendula and retained the seat for six terms. Reddy's hold on the constituency was intact even during the Telagu Desam Party's strong wave in 1983. Reddy was one of those rare politicians of the country who never tasted defeat in electoral politics. Reddy developed the Cuddapah region by pumping in funds and creating a solid infrastructure, making the constituency its neighbors' envy.
In 1980 YSR became Minister of State for Rural Development, in the Tengutri Anjaih Government. In 1982 he became the Cabinet Minister for Excise in the B.Venkataram Reddy Government and also held the charge of Education and Health department in K.Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Government in 1983. YSR had earned the title of Cuddapah Tiger for his aggressive role in the state assembly.
Andhra CM's chopper has crash-landed: Union Home Secy
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary G K Pillai on Thursday said that the missing Bell chopper carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajshekhera Reddy and four others had crash-landed about 40 nautical miles east of the Kurnool mountainous area.
Pillai said that as of now he could not hazard a guess about whether there were any survivors or whether the chief minister and the people accompanying him were injured or had moved to another location.
He confirmed that the chopper was in a very damaged state.
The Home Ministry has ordered para-commandos to immediately airdrop themselves at the location to determine the exact physical status of Reddy and the four others. The para-commandos have landed.
The para-commandos have been told to report back immediately on the situation on ground.
“We have located the helicopter. It is on top of a hill at a distance of 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool. We are trying to find out whether there were any survivors. We are not sure whether the chopper crashed. Two Air Force helicopters are orbiting there trying to find a place to land, but because the chopper is on top of a hill, it’s a jungle it has been very difficult to land,” said an Army spokesperson adding that further details were awaited from the site.
The chopper is said to be located between Rudrakonta and Rollapenta near Kurnool town. Commandos, police and paratroopers are moving towards the area
Meanwhile, the core committee of the Congress party is meeting in New Delhi to assess the latest developments. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will convene a meeting of the Union Cabinet after the Congress meeting to decide on the next steps in the operation.
Reddy's death tremendous loss for party: Congress
New Delhi: Describing Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as a "dynamic" chief minister and human being, Congress on Thursday said his demise was a "tremendous loss" to the party which will take very long to come to terms with it.
Reacting to his tragic death in a chopper crash, the Congress said Reddy was "utterly" devoted to the party, to the state of Andhra Pradesh and to the country and his loss will be felt "very deeply".
"He was such a dynamic CM, dynamic human being and a man of the people, something that will take us very long to come to terms with," party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said. She said it was tragic that he died while actually engaged in the active implementation of his "important schemes".
Reddy had recently led the Congress to a historic victory in the Parliamentary elections in Andhra Pradesh.
"He had tremendous political instincts and he was a Congressman to the last drop of his blood... It's a tremendous loss to the political firmament and to find either his pulse on the feeling of the masses and some of his courage and dynamism is very very difficult," Natarajan said.
She said Reddy was absolutely determined that the implementation of his schemes should not fail and he should deliver the promises he made to the people of Andhra Pradesh. Condoling Reddy's death, Left parties described him the "popular" Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
"It is most tragic and unfortunate. The victory he had achieved in the recent elections had established his popularity in Andhra Pradesh," CPI-M Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said here.
No comments:
Post a Comment