S Jaipal Reddy: The orator who stood out for his clean brand of politics

Reddy was an exceptional parliamentarian, an efficient minister and widely acknowledged for his integrity and practice of clean politics

Current affairs: S Jaipal Reddy began his career as a Congressman, and died aged 77 on Sunday, a Congressman. However, in his 50 years of public life, he did not always remain one. Reddy, who would always describe himself as a committed socialist, always put his convictions first, which made him quit the Congress and the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to protest the Emergency in 1977.

Never did the lure of office or reputation of his rivals faze Reddy — whether it was his grit and determination in overcoming his lifelong physical disability or contesting the Lok Sabha elections against Indira Gandhi from Medak in 1980, or taking on the might of the Reliance group as the Union minister for petroleum and natural gas in 2011-12.

Reddy was an exceptional parliamentarian, an efficient minister and widely acknowledged for his integrity and practice of clean politics. Reddy, however, is likely to be better remembered as a spokesperson, first of the Janata Dal and the National Front in the run-up to the...read more