HYDERABAD: Popularly referred to as ‘Golconda tiger’, senior BJP leader Baddam Balreddy passed away on Saturday after fighting a hard battle with a tumour in the small intestine. The 74-year-old Balreddy has been one of the few leaders who has seen the transition of BJP from Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and several other senior BJP leaders including Bandaru Dattatreya, K Laxman, T Raja Singh and G Kishan Reddy mourned the death of Balreddy.
Balreddy was an avid follower of Hindu religion and found his place in the BJP through his strong association with RSS right from his early days. Interestingly, it was between 1985 and 1994 that Balreddy shot to fame in the Old City.
Balreddy had a hat-trick by winning Karwan assembly constituency thrice. “He ensured that BJP flag was flying high in the AIMIM dominated region not for once but thrice. As Golconda Fort is in Karwan region, it was symbolically held that BJP has conquered the region and hence he was called as Golconda tiger,” explained G Kishan Reddy.
Born in Aliabad in Old City, he is survived by four sons and his wife. He was recently admitted to the hospital owing to small bowel malignancy which spread to other organs that eventually led to his death. Recently, he unsuccessfully contested from Rajendranagar Assembly constituency.