Background
Reddy's parents came from a communist region and were devout Christians.
Reddy's parents came from a communist region and were devout Christians.
Reddy was elected to the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency for four terms and to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for five terms from the Pulivendula constituency. He won every election he contested. In 2003 he undertook a three-month-long paadayaatra, or walking tour of 1475 km during the very hot summer months, across several districts in Andhra Pradesh as a part of his election campaign. He led his party to victory in the following general and assembly elections held in 2004, and did the same in 2009. He is the only chief minister of the state to have served again after a full term.
During his tenure as Chief Minister, the government of Andhra Pradesh undertook the following projects:
On the first day of his tenure in 2004, he provided free electricity for farmers, a campaign project
A health insurance program for rural people living below the poverty line (white card holders), known as Rajiv Arogya Shree, was instituted to pay the entire cost of any necessary surgery up to a maximum of Rs.200,000.
A free public ambulance service was originally started by Satyam and then adopted by Andhra Pradesh.
The Pavala Vaddi program provided loans at 3% interest to encourage small businesseses and entrepreneurship by rural women.
Indiramma illu was a program started to construct heavily subsidised housing for the rural poor.
A rice scheme provided a kilogram of rice for two rupees to reduce hunger. The minimum support price for rice was also raised.
Full reimbursement of college tuition for the underprivileged and reservations for minorities were instituted.
The main emphasis during Reddy's tenure was on social welfare with a majority of his projects targeted at reducing rural poverty. Apart from these schemes, his government was a role model in implementing the central government's flagship program NREGA.
His tenure also saw significant weakening of the violent extremist left-wing Naxalite movement that was rampant in the state when he assumed office in 2004
The Jala Yagnam project was started to irrigate 10,000,000 acres of land through the construction of major, medium and minor irrigation projects. It helped Andhra Pradesh make significant progress in sustainable agriculture by making wastelands cultivable.
