Veteran Congress leader and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh Konijeti Rosaiah passed away due to sudden cardiac stroke on Saturday morning.
He was 88. According to his family members, Rosaiah’s blood pressure came down suddenly in the morning at his residence in Ameerpet in Hyderabad and he was rushed to a private hospital at Banjara Hills, where he was declared brought dead.
His body has been brought back to his residence to enable the party leaders, relatives and wellwishers to pay their last respects, the family members said.
Born on July 4, 1933, at Vemuru village of Guntur district, Rosaiah, who played a major role in the Andhra Pradesh in the last six decades.
Rosaiah graduated in commerce from Hindu College in Guntur district and soon got into politics. He was elected as a legislative council member on behalf of the Congress in 1968, 1974 and 1980.
He worked as a minister for the first time in Marri Channa Reddy cabinet holding the portfolio of roads and buildings. Later, he held several portfolios in the various ministries.
He got elected to the state assembly from Chirala in 2004 and held the portfolio of finance minister in YSR cabinet. However, in 2009, he did not contest the assembly elections and got nominated to the state legislative council.
He took over as the acting chief minister soon after the death of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on September 2, 2009 and continued in the past till November 4, 2010.
He was later made the Governor of Tamil Nadu on August 31, 2011 and for a brief period, he was also acting as a Governor of Karnataka.
He continued in the Tamil Nadu Governor post till August 30, 2016. Since then, he had been keeping away from active politics, attending only social functions now and then.
