Meteoric rise of Nedurumalli in politics

Hyderabad: Beginning his political career with a defeat in the Legislative Council election several decades back, Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy (NJR) went on to rise after 20 years to the level of handling the State reigns, occupying an important place in AP politics and the Congress. Being a group leader helped him. He was a survivor who adopted a conciliatory approach, rather than confrontation.

Born on February 20, 1935 in Vakadu of Nellore district, Reddy began his career as maths teacher, after completing B Ed. Soon he set up the Vakadu group of educational institutions. The Social Welfare department conducted an inquiry into some irregularities in the institutions following complaints received by the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy government. To tide over difficulties that arose subsequently, Reddy entered politics in 1972 with the cooperation of the then Chief Minister P V Narasimha Rao. Within two years, Reddy became a member of the Rajya Sabha.

After the Congress defeat in 1977 and the party split, he became a loyalist of Indira Gandhi. Following the party’s resounding win in the elections next year, he was made a minister in the Cabinets of Dr M Channa Reddy and T Anjaiah.

After Channa Reddy was forced to resign in 1990, Janardhan Reddy became CM. He banned the People’s War Group (PWG) of extremists after the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and thus became a target. He survived an attempt on his life by naxalites in 2007. NJR was forced to quit following a court ruling in the medical/dental colleges case.

After losing the Assembly elections from Venkatagiri in 1994, Reddy went on to win the Lok Sabha polls from Bapatla in 1998, Narasaraopet in 1999 and Visakhapatnam in 2004. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2009. Except his wife Rajyalakshmi, no member of his family is in politics. This year, his son, Ramkumar Reddy, is contesting the Venkatagiri seat.