N Kiran Kumar Reddy was the last chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh; the state was bifurcated in 2014 to carve out Telangana.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy with Rahul Gandhi when the former rejoined the Congress in 2018. (Supplied)
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, the former chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, resigned from the Congress on Saturday, 11 March.
As the news emerged late on Sunday night, speculations were rife that he would soon join the BJP in the presence of the saffron party’s top leaders.
Kiran Kumar Reddy sent a letter resigning from the party’s primary membership to Congress president Mallikharjuna Kharge on Saturday. However, the letter came to light on Sunday.
It is learnt Kiran Kumar Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the airport during his visit to Hyderabad on Saturday, before sending his resignation to the Congress chief.
Kiran Kumar Reddy was the last chief minister of Andhra Pradesh before the state was bifurcated in 2014 to give birth to Telangana.
He strongly opposed the then Congress-led UPA government’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, resigned from the party, and launched the Jai Samaikyandhra Party ahead of the 2014 polls.
His party could not make any significant impact, and all the candidates who were fray in the 2014 polls lost their deposits.
Interestingly, he didn’t contest in those elections. Instead, his brother Nallari Kishore Reddy contested from the Pileru constituency in Chittoor, which was represented by him until then.
In 2018, he dissolved the Jai Samaikhyandhra Party and rejoined the Congress.
Congress President @RahulGandhi welcomes to the Congress, Shri N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/PqW4GIxstx
— Congress (@INCIndia) July 13, 2018
However, over the last few years, he stayed away from the Congress’ activities and was not seen in Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state.
Kiran Kumar Reddy is a four-time MLA from the Chittoor district.
Coming from a political family, he started his career in politics in 1989 and won on a Congress ticket from Vayalpadu.
He won the 1999 and 2004 elections from the same constituency, and in 2009 from the Pileru Assembly segment.
Kiran Kumar Reddy was the choice of the then Congress central leadership in 2010 to steer the party in the state when it decided to replace the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Konijeti Rosaiah.
The party concluded that Rosaiah could not manage the Congress’ affairs in the state effectively in the aftermath of the sudden demise of the party’s strongman YS Rajasekhar Reddy in 2009.
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