Konijeti Rosaiah (4 July 1933 – 4 December 2021) was an Indian politician who served as the 15th chief minister of

United Andhra Pradesh United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

from 2009 to 2010. He also served as the

Governor of Tamil Nadu The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by t ...

from 2011 to 2016 and the

Governor of Karnataka The Governor of Karnataka is the constitutional head of the Indian state of Karnataka. The governor is appointed by the president of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is ''de jure'' head ...

(additional charge) for two months. He was previously an MLC, MLA and MP from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

numerous times and handled many ministerial posts over his long political career spanning over half a century. While serving as

, he was also given additional responsibility as

when Governor H. R. Bhardwaj's term ended on 28 June 2014, until

Vajubhai Vala Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala (born 23 January 1937) is an Indian statesman who was the 18th Governor of Karnataka from 1 September 2014 to 6 July 2021. He is also the longest serving Governor for Karnataka after Khurshed Alam Khan. Vajubhai served ...

took over on 1 September 2014. After completion of his five-year term as Governor of Tamil Nadu he took retirement from active politics.

Early life

Konijeti Rosaiah was born into a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-speaking, middle-class

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Gavara Komati

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, taking care ...

family in Vemuru,

Tenali mandal Tenali mandal is one of the 57 mandals in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is under the administration of Tenali revenue division, headquartered at Tenali. The mandal is located in Velanadu region, bounded by Pedakakani ...

, present day Guntur District, in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. He graduated from Guntur Hindu College,

Andhra University Andhra University ( IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest d ...

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

. While he was studying in Guntur, he was elected as the student leader and thus entered into

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

. He studied at

Zilla Parishad High School Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) is a type of state-run secondary school in India. These schools are established, supervised, and funded by the District Councils of India (locally known as ''Zilla Parishad'', district level local authorities ...

Political career

Rosaiah began as a political disciple of

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...

leader and independence activist N.G. Ranga. He was elected as MLC in 1968, 1974, 1980 and 2009 and as an MLA in 1989 and 2004 from

Chirala Chirala (), (, Telugu) a city in Bapatla district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Chirala mandal in Chirala revenue division. , it had a population of above 170,000. Chirala is the most popu ...

assembly constituency. In 1998, he was elected as MP from

Narasaraopet Narasaraopet is a city and district headquarters of Palnadu District of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town is a municipality and mandal headquarters of Narasaraopet mandal and Headquarters of Narasaraopet revenue division. The town als ...

. In the year 2011 he was sworn in as Governor of Tamil Nadu. During his long political career he interacted and worked closely with most of the

Prime Ministers of India The prime minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India. Although the President of India is the constitutional, nominal, and ceremonial head of state, in practice and ordinarily, the executive authority is vested in the P ...

, including

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

Ministerial portfolios held

* AP State Minister for Transportation and Roads and Buildings under M. Chenna Reddy from 1978. * AP State Minister for Transportation and Housing under T. Anjaiah from 1980. * AP State Minister for Home under Kotla Vijaya Bhasker Reddy from 1982. * AP State Minister for Finance, Transportation and Electricity under M. Chenna Reddy from 1989. * AP State Minister for Finance, Medical & Health, Education and Electricity under

Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy (20 February 1935 – 9 May 2014) was an Indian politician from Andhra Pradesh. A member of the Indian National Congress, he represented the Visakhapatnam constituency in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Ind ...

from Dec 1990. * AP State Minister for Finance, Medical & Health, Education and Electricity under

Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy (16 August 1920 – 27 September 2001) served as the chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 1983 and then from 1992 to 1994. Reddy was a member of the Indian National Congress and was elected t ...

from Oct 1992. * AP State Minister for Finance, Planning & Legislative Affairs under Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy from April 2004.

As APCC President

Rosaiah was the President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) from 1994 to 1996.

As Finance Minister

Rosaiah presented the state budget 16 times, including 7 times in a row, a record in the country. He served as a finance minister under

Marri Chenna Reddy Dr. Marri Channa Reddy (13 January 1919 – 2 December 1996) was an Indian politician active in several states. He was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1978 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1990. He also served as the governor of Uttar Pradesh ...

and Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy. In his tenure as Finance Minister in Chenna Reddy's cabinet, he ensured that teachers received retirement benefits. Rosaiah is well known for adhering to strict fiscal management principles and effective mobilization & utilization of government funds. His contribution to the state as its longest serving finance minister is well recognized.

As Chief Minister

Rosaiah took over as the Chief Minister after the death of Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy. In his tenure, Konijeti strived to bring political stability to the state and continue all the welfare programs planned and initiated by his predecessor. He is often credited with the effective management of the flood situation during October 2009, the law and order situation with respect to the

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

agitation which started in December 2010, effective budgetary management, streamlining of the delivery systems of welfare programs etc. He submitted his resignation as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

to the

Governor of Andhra Pradesh This is a list of governors of Andhra, including Andhra State and United Andhra Pradesh, in office from 1953 to the present date. The official residence of the governor is the Raj Bhavan, situated in Vijayawada. E. S. L. Narasimhan is the lo ...

, ESL Narasimhan on 24 November 2010 citing health reasons.

Political History

As per the Information submitted to Parliament Office, as Member of Parliament of 12th Lok Sabha the following positions were held by him: 1968-85 Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council 1979-83 Minister, Roads and Buildings, Housing, Transport and Home, Andhra Pradesh 1989-94 Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Minister, Finance and Transport, Andhra Pradesh 1992-93 Leader of House, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly 1998 Elected to 12th Lok Sabha 1998-99 Member, Committee on Industry and Member, Library Committee and Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting He retired from active politics in August 2016, after completion of his term as Governor of Tamil Nadu. His political career lasted around 60 years.

Honours

Andhra University conferred Rosaiah with an honorary doctorate in 2007.

Personal life

He was married on 4 June 1950 to Smt Sivalakshmi. He has 3 sons and 1 daughter. His sons are KS Subba Rao and KSN Murthy and daughter is P Rama Devi. His socio-cultural activities include helping the under-privileged. He was also a good orator. He was also member of the spices board in the year 1998. His professions include agriculturist, trader and industrialist. Rosaiah died on 4 December 2021 at the age of 88 in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

after a brief illness. The

Government of Andhra Pradesh Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as, GOAP, or, Andhra Government, is the subnational government for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is an elected government with 175 MLAs elected to the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh fo ...

and the

Government of Telangana The Government of Telangana also known as Telangana Government, is the governing authority of the state of Telangana in India. It consists of an executive, a judiciary and a legislative. The state government is headed by the Governor of Tela ...

observed a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to him. He was cremated with full state honours at his farmhouse in Kompally on 5 December 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosaiah, Konjeti 1933 births 2021 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh People from Guntur Governors of Tamil Nadu Governors of Karnataka Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh India MPs 1998–1999 Andhra University alumni