Chandupatla Janga Reddy, Veteran BJP leader passed away

            Chandupatla Janga Reddy, a veteran Bhartiya Janata Party politician, died on Saturday morning in Hyderabad due to health concerns. He was 86 years old.

Reddy died about 6 a.m. at KIMS Hospital Kondapur in Hyderabad. Due to health concerns, he was admitted to the hospital for 4-5 days of therapy. Reddy, a Warangal native, was one of the two BJP MPs elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984, as well as a former MLA in Andhra Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, and other political figures expressed their condolences on Reddy’s death.

“Reddy Garu was a powerful voice for the BJP at a key juncture in the Party’s history. I spoke with his son and offered my sympathies. ‘Om Shanti’”, Modi said on Twitter.

‘Shri C Janga Reddy Garu dedicated his entire life to public service. He was a key figure in the attempts to propel the Jana Sangh and the BJP to unprecedented heights of success. He left an impression on many people’s hearts and thoughts. He also served as an inspiration to many Karyakartas. I’m saddened by his death’, he remarked.

According to a PTI storey, Reddy served as an MLA in the undivided Andhra Pradesh legislature, but it was his Lok Sabha victory from Hanamkonda in 1984 that catapulted him to political prominence. His victory meant that he was one of the party’s only two poll victors after its main luminaries, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were swept away in the pro-Congress tsunami precipitated by the death of then-prime leader Indira Gandhi.

P V Narasimha Rao, a Congress veteran who went on to become India’s prime minister in 1991, had been beaten by Reddy.

The funeral is expected to take place at Warangal on the evening of February 5 (Saturday).