VIJAYAWADA: Going down the memory lane, several veterans of the Congress and those who left the grand old party, recalled their association with Konijeti Rosaiah, the former Chief Minister of the united Andhra Pradesh.
Senior Congress leader KVP Ramachandra Rao, who was associated with him from 1978, said it was Rosaiah who taught them financial discipline and effective financial management. “Our association was not just limited to politics, we were good friends,” he told TNIE.
He recalled the time he went to attend the house warming function of Rosaiah in 1981 and the affection the departed leader showered on him. Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, who was finance minister in the government of N Kiran Kumar Reddy, described Rosaiah as finance minister par excellence. “Due to his excellent management of state finances, Andhra Pradesh did not go for overdraft or cross FRBM limits in 10 years between 2004 to 2014,” he said and added that he was proud to have been associated with him and having an opportunity to work along with him in the government.
N Raghuveera Reddy, another cabinet colleague of Rosaiah, says it was hard to even conceive of seeing an Assembly or Council without the towering presence of Rosaiah, who always made the opponents, be it members of ruling party or opposition, to see the reason. The former APCC president, recalling his association with the grand old man of Congress, said he was fortunate to have worked with Rosaiah. “I was agriculture minister, while he was FM. We had worked together on several committees. He left an indelible mark of a great leader,” he said.
The present APCC chief Sake Sailjanath described Rosiah as a walking encyclopedia of finance and an anchor point which held the State government. “Be it as finance minister or chief minister, Rosaiah has left a lasting impression on the minds of the people. His role in implementation of several welfare programmes is undeniable,” he said.
Lingamsetty Eswar Rao, former MLA from Guntur district, who had a long association with Rosaiah, said he was junior to the former chief minister and were alumni of the same college. “He was a financial genius. I have several memories associated with him. When he became PCC chief, we in Guntur formed a trust and with funds raised, for which he played a vital role, we constructed Congress Bhavan in Guntur and named it after Rajiv Gandhi, who in fact laid the foundation for it. We named a meeting hall in the building after Rosaiah,” Rao said. He said despite his stature or status, Rosaiah was firmly grounded in reality and was always respectful to elders, which was evident from the felicitation of his teachers during his own Shastipurthi in Guntur.