Former Chief Minister of the unified State of Andhra Pradesh, and former Governor of Tamil Nadu K Rosaiah passed away on Saturday morning, after a brief illness. Rosaiah was shifted to a private hospital early morning today after he was unwell, where doctors declared him as brought dead.
He was a senior Congress leader, and his political career spanned over half a century. While serving as Governor of Tamil Nadu, he was also given additional responsibility as Governor of Karnataka when Governor H. R. Bhardwaj's term ended in June 2014.
He retired from active politics after serving as Governor of Tamil Nadu for 5 years.
Rosaiah died while being taken to a private hospital here after he fell ill this morning, Congress sources said.
Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, state Congress president and MP A Revanth Reddy and several other leaders condoled the death of Rosaiah. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana paid homage to the late leader.
The Chief Minister, who visited Rosaiah's house in Hyderabad and paid his tributes, instructed the officials to conduct the funeral of the departed leader with State honours, an official press release said.
The State government also declared three days of mourning, it said. The funeral would be held on Sunday afternoon. Congress sources said Rosaiah's mortal remains would be kept at Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters in Telangana, on Sunday to enable party leaders and workers to pay their last respects.
Expressing grief over the demise of Rosaiah, Congress leaders in Telangana recalled his stellar contributions to party and in successive Congress governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh. PCC president A Revanth Reddy, who was in Delhi to attend Parliament session, returned to Hyderabad to pay tributes to the veteran leader.
Rosaiah had the unique distinction of presenting the State budget for 15 times, Revanth Reddy said. The Congress leaders observed two-minute silence at Gandhi Bhavan in Rosaiah's memory. Rosaiah’s political journey began in 1968 as an MLC. He served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from September 3 after the demise of YS Rajasekhar Reddy till November 25 in 2009.
He had a challenging time as the Chief Minister in view of political developments following the sudden demise of charismatic YSR in a chopper crash and the separate Telangana agitation gaining momentum. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Narasaraopet in Andhra in 1999, Congress sources said. He had also served as the Governor of Tamil Nadu from August 31, 2011 to August 30, 2016.
PM Modi condoled his demise. "Saddened by the passing away of Shri K. Rosaiah Garu. I recall my interactions with him when we both served as Chief Ministers and later when he was Tamil Nadu Governor. His contributions to public service will be remembered. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti.", he tweeted.
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