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Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was born on 19th May 1913 and was elected as the sixth President of the country. He served the tenure of President for the period of 1977 to 1982. He had a long political vocation during which she served many of the government offices. He became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh twice and also was elected twice as the Lok Sabha speaker. He became the first person to be selected in the office of President without being unimpeded.
Family and Education
Village Illur is the birth place of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy that was part of Madras but in the current times, it is part of district Anantapur located in Andhra Pradesh. He completed his elementary education from Theosophical Society Adyar in city of Madras. For pursuing his higher education, he went to Government Arts College in Anantapur that was associated with Madras University during those times. He completed his doctorate degree in Law in the year 1958 from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati.
He married Neelam Nagaratnamma and from this marriage, they had four children, a son and three daughters.
As Freedom Fighter
After Mahatma Gandhi visited Anantapur in 1929, Reddy was so inspired by him that he joined the group fighting for India’s freedom struggle. To be an active partaker in the freedom struggle, he left his studies in 1931. He participated in the student Satyagrah movement. For a period of 10 year since 1938, he was selected to be the secretary of the Congress party in the state of Andhra Pradesh. For being involved in the Quit India Movement, he was sent to jail many times from the year 1940 to 1945. He was let off the imprisonment in March 1942 but later in the month of August same year, he was jailed in Amraoti jail. His companions in prison were T Prakasam, S. Satyamurti, K Kamraaj and V.V. Giri till the year 1945.
Political Career
In 1946, he became the part of Assembly of Madras Legislative and later was elected as the Secretary of Madras Congress Legislature Party. He was an active member of the group who structured the Indian Constitution. He was the Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests in Madras Province from the year 1949 till 1951.
Return of Politics
After Reddy received a call from Jayaprakash Narayan to be part of the Total Revolution, he came out from his political banish in 1975. In 1977, he became the part of Janata Party and then, he participated in the General elections from the constituency of Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh as a candidate of Janata Party. He was selected to be the speaker of Lok Sabha on 26th March 1977, but left this position after a few months so that he could participate in the Presidential elections in 1977.
Retirement and Death
It was on 25th July 1982 that Reddy was thriving by Giani Zail Singh as the President of the country. President Reddy during his farewell speech groused the breakdown of the succeeding government and asked for making a strapping political group to avert any kind of malfunctioning in the government. After he completed his tenure as the countries President, Ramakrishna Hedge Karnataka’s Chief Minister asked Reddy to inhabit in Bangalore but Reddy preferred staying in his Anantapur farm. In 1996 at the age of 83, he died in the city of Bangalore because of being affected of pneumonia. He was cremated in Kallahalli located very close to Bangalore.
His book “Fear or Favour: Reminiscences and Reflections of a President” was published in 1989. His statue was put up in the Hyderabad Secretariat in 2004. He was also accused of raping Ramnika Gupta who was the trade unionist and politician of CPI when she went to meet him at the session of AICC to converse about nationalising the Dhanbad mines.
Reddy was honoured by the Indian Postal department where a dedicatory stamp and a special cover were issued on his name on the event of his birth anniversary. The educational institute after his name are the Government College of Arts and Government medical college in Anantapur.
Other Positions Held
1967–72 | Deputy Minister, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1972–74 | Cabinet Minister, Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1974–75 | Cabinet Minister, Public Health & Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1975–76 | Cabinet Minister, Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1977–78 | Cabinet Minister, Education, Government of Maharashtra |
1979–1980 | Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
1982–85 | Cabinet Minister, Urban Development and Housing, Government of Maharashtra |
1983–85 | Cabinet Minister, Civil Supplies and Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1986–1988 | Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha |
1986–88 | Chairman, Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha; Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha |
1991–1996 | Chairman, House Committee, Lok Sabha |
8 November 2004 – 23 June 2007 | Governor of Rajasthan |
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