Y S Rajasekhara Reddy

• Minister of State for Rural Development (1980 - 1982)
• Excise Minister (1982)
• Education Minister (1982 - 1983)
• Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly (1999 - 2004)

• Immediately after Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took the oath to office on May 14, 2004 for the first time as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, he delivered free electric supply to the homes of farmers, as promised during the time of elections.
• He provided the Rajiv Arogya Shree, a health insurance scheme to all persons below poverty line in the state. Using the Rajiv Arogya Shree would exempt them of surgery charges up to Rs 200,000.
• Emergency medical services, like free ambulance service was introduced for all within the state.
• A program called the Pavala Vaddi was started through which people could take loans from financial institutions in rates as low as 3%. The concept helped to establish several small scale businesses throughout the state, thus ensuring a source of income for many.
• A program called Indiramma Illu was introduced. Through this, the AP government bore a large part of the monetary burden of construction of a home by the rural population.
• Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made sure that all the backward students were reimbursed their fees from college and reservations were made for the minorities.
• He introduced a scheme following which rice could be bought for as nominal a price as Rs 2 per kg.
• The Andhra Pradesh government took the most important and quick steps to realize the NREGA or compulsory employment to all program introduced by the national government in India.
• Naxalite movements in Andhra Pradesh had reduced significantly during Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s term in office because the rural people in the state were no longer ready to join hands with the Naxalites out of love for Y S R.
• Y S R introduced the Jala Yagnam scheme through which irrigation projects were constructed that provided water to 100,00,000 acres of land spread throughout Andhra Pradesh and helped to convert wasteland into cultivable land.
• On the negative side, Y S R and his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy ordered the killings of several people from the opposition political party. Close to 400 were reported dead.
• Allegations, most of them true, said that Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had huge amounts of corrupt money to his name, money that he used to support industries like Bharathi Cements, Jagathi Publications and Sakshi Paper.
• Y S Rajasekhara surrendered several acres of land to the government in December 2006. This move was considered very controversial, with opposition leaders, Chandrababu Naidu the most vociferous among them, demanding Y S R’s resignation from office.
• Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s first term in office of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was highly successful, making it easier for him to contest the upcoming elections. However, unlike all other opposition parties, Y S R did not promise any new welfare programs for his second term in the CM’s office. Rather, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made it clear that he would pursue with the policies that he had introduced in his earlier term. In spite of all other political parties forming a unified opposition in Andhra Pradesh during the 2009 CM elections, Y S R won with a majority.
• Y S Rajasekhara Reddy became the Chief Minister for a consecutive term, the only person to have achieved the feat after serving a full five year term.