Remembering YSR

One of the biggest mass leaders of recent times, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy was the master of electoral politics. Like a seasoned doctor, YSR truly understood the pulse of the people.

YSR had an interest in politics since the time he was a student and truly shot into the limelight after winning the 2004 elections to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

On September 2,2009, YSR died in a helicopter crash in a rather shocking sequence of events. On his 62nd birth anniversary, here's a look back at the life and times of the mass leader.

Dr. Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, was born on July 8, 1949, in Pulivendula in the Rayalaseema region.

YSR did his schooling in Balapanur and Bellary, where his father worked.

He got a medical degree from the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga University, Karnataka and completed his House Surgeonship at S.V. Medical College, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

At medical college YSR was the President of the Student's Union and was elected leader of the House Surgeon's Association in SV Medical College.

After completing his MBBS, YSR served as the Medical Officer at the Jammalamadugu Mission Hospital for a while. In 1973, he established a charitable hospital named after his father at Pulivendula.

YSR entered active politics in 1978 and was elected five times to the state Assembly. And four times to the Lok Sabha. He never lost an election.

During his 25-year-long political career, YSR was president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) twice, he held several important portfolios as minister and from 1999 to 2004, served as Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

A born leader, YSR as a young MLA rallied Congress MLAs to lead hunger strikes and yatras to highlight important local issues. Then, in 2003, he led a 1400-km and three-month long padyatra covering all backward areas in the state to connect with the people and understand how they lived. That was a turning point.

A year later he led his party to victory in the state elections and became Chief Minister. YSR burst onto the national stage with his padyatra during the campaign for the 2004 Assembly elections. Many saw him as the centerpiece of the Congress strategy against the all-powerful TDP.

In 2009, he broke an Andhra Pradesh jinx to win again, the only chief minister of the state to have come back to power after being in office for a full term.

In this picture, YSR takes oath of office and secrecy during the swearing ceremony at The Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on May 20, 2009.

YSR expanded his political empire from Andhra Pradesh's feudal Reddy heartland. He won 4 Lok Sabha and 4 Assembly elections from Kadappa. He was credited publicly and often with being a leader with a huge mass base, a rarity in the Congress party.

YSR was particularly popular for his welfare schemes, which found no match around the country.

In this picture taken in 2006, US President George W. Bush (C) looks at a woven hat while on a visit to fibre product exhibition with YSR at the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad.

The University has been partnered with Cornell University in a US Agency for International Development sponsored program designed to stimulate India's agricultural development.

Superstar Chiranjeevi decided to throw his weight into the last elections and many doubted what YSR would accomplish for the Congress. But in his campaign, YSR claimed he was a development man and fought on the back of populist schemes: irrigation, pensions, schemes for women.

The YSR magic worked, and his party's victory was seen as hard evidence of a grassroots politician whose charisma trounced the controversy surrounding him.

YSR was killed after the helicopter in which he was travelling crash-landed atop the Rudrakonda hill in the Nallamalla range, in September last year.

The chopper carrying the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, his Principal Secretary P Subramanyam, Chief Security Officer ASC Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy, went off the radar screens amid bad weather and incessant rains.

YSR's body was found along with four others atop the Rudrakonda hill. Commandos reached his helicopter 24 hours after it crashed.

The helicopter went missing after it lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Chennai - an hour after it took off from the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.

The 225 square kilometer area was divided into 7 sectors and one chopper was assigned to each of these sectors. The search operations also focused on water bodies like the Krishna River and the streams and rivulets in the forest.

These images are taken from 1.5 km above the site where the Andhra Chief Minister's helicopter crashed. They were taken using a Large Format Digital camera installed on the low-flying ISRO-NRSA owned Beechcraft.

Thousands of people converged at the Idupulapaya Estate to bid a final farewell to the man who had touched them in one way or the other. A sea of humanity surrounded the burial site to catch a glimpse of YSR Reddy.

Supporters of deceased Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy paid their last tribute to the departed leader during his funeral procession in Hyderabad.

A supporter (C) breaks into tears in front of a poster of YSR Reddy at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad.

In this photo, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is seen paying tributes to YSR on his birth anniversary in Hyderabad. PTI Photo

In this photo, women supporters are seen paying tributes to YSR on his birth anniversary in Hyderabad. PTI Photo