Former TN Governor Rosaiah asks KCR to mark Marri Channa Reddy birthday

Hyderabad: Former Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah on Thursday appealed to the TRS government to organise the year-long centenary celebrations of former undivided Andhra Pradesh chief minister and late Marri Channa Reddy, which begins on January 13.

Speaking to mediapersons, Mr Rosaiah, a former chief minister of undivided AP, said Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy would be participating in the 99th birth anniversary celebrations of the veteran leader on Saturday at the Channa Reddy Memorial at Indira Park.

Mr Rosaiah said former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh would deliver the Channa Reddy Centenary Memorial Lecture in February in Hyderabad.

Mr Rosaiah, who heads the committee, said five or six seminars would be held to mark the centenary year on various contributions made by Channa Reddy including the remote area development programme and cyclone emergency reconstruction programme.

Mr Rosaiah said Channa Reddy was a towering personality politics and had started his political career as a freedom fighter.

He was the youngest member of the Provisional Parliament in 1950 at the age of 31 and was the Cabinet minister in the erstwhile Hyderabad State in 1952 at the age of 33.

He was one of the signatories to the Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1956 that led to the formation of Andhra Pradesh after the merger of Andhra and Telangana region of Hydera-bad, and was Chief Minister twice and was the Governor for five states.