Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy

Being born into a Christian middle class family on 8 August 1950 to Y. S. Raja Reddy and Y. S. Jayamma. Vivekananda Reddy was the younger brother of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He is a graduate in Agriculture from S.V. Agricultural College in Tirupati.[1] He has one daughter.

He was the designer of Lingala Canal in Kadapa district. He began his services to the community through the Lions club, became district Governor and the Samithi President.

Vivekananda Reddy was twice elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Pulivendula constituency, in 1989 and 1994.[2] Then, in the elections of 1999, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency with a majority of over 90,000, which was the highest majority gained in the state. In 2004 elections he increased that majority to over 110,000.

In September 2009, Vivekananda Reddy was elected as a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. On 30 November 2010 he became Agriculture Minister in the Andhra Pradesh cabinet headed by N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.[3]

Later, in the 2011, Vivekananda Reddy contested the Pulivendula by-elections caused due to Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother, Y. S. Vijayamma, leaving the INC to form YSR Congress. He stood as the INC candidate against his sister-in-law and just managed to secure his deposit after finishing in second place but some 80,000 votes behind Y. S. Vijayamma.[4] His sister in law party YSRCP has demanded a CBI probe for investigation.[5][6]

As per preliminary conclusions of the Post-mortem reports YS Vivekananda Reddy has been brutally murdered and found at his residence in Kadapa on 15 March 2019. The murder took place few weeks before the General Elections 2019 in The state of Andhra. As per Forensic Report, he was stabbed to death. The coroner's report says that there were seven stab wounds on his body made by a sharp object.[7]

Kadapa SP Rahul Dev sharma said, "We have formed a SIT headed by ASP Operations who will lead the team and investigate the murder. We have collected finger prints and other forensic evidence. The Victim has seven deep wounds on the head and right hand".[8]

On Thursday night he was alone at his residence in Pulivendula. Two days before the murder, he was seen at YS Jagan mohan Reddy residence at Hyderabad. YSR Congress expressed distrust of the SIT formed by the Telugu Desam Party Government and asked for the CBI to investigate the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy.[9] A prime suspect of the Vivekanada Reddy Murder case, Srinivasulu Reddy, killed himself and alleged he was harassed by the police with false allegations on him Sep 2019 by taking sleeping pills.[10][11][12]

Jagan rejected the probe by State Government of Andhra Pradesh and moved to the High court seeking a CBI inquiry in to his uncle's murder. But after he came to power in May 2019 He constituted a new SIT of the State Police to probe the murder and even tried withdraw his own petition demanding CBI probe.[13] He argued that SIT doing a perfect Job.[14][15]

TDP continued criticism on YS Jagan mohan Reddy on different issues, including his cousin approaching the court High Court of Andhra Pradesh seeking CBI probe in to YS Vivekananda Reddy murder. TDP alleged that after Ys Jagan became chief minister made a about-turn on murder case.TDP said "After his emotional initial reaction Jagan now appears to be least bothered about bringing culprits in murder case to book". and also reminded his statements to CBI probe when he was in opposition and not taken a single step in that direction after forming Government. And also Questioned, "what stopping him to hand over the case to CBI ?".[16]

However, Viveka's wife Sowbhagyamma, daughter Sunitha, former TDP minister C Adinarayana Reddy and TDP lawmaker BTech Ravi had filed separate petitions in the Hight court of Andhra demanding the murder case must be entrusted to the CBI. Dr. N.Sunitha Reddy and her Husband N.Rajasekhar Reddy also gave a list of around 12 suspects including Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy and his father YS Bhasker Reddy at the scene who were allgedly involved in her father murder case. These two questioned the wisdom of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for not handing over the case to CBI as he said earlier. She argued that SIT has delivered no justification and only a CBI case could unearth all the facts. She said that she believed Avinash Reddy protecing Shankar Reddy for personal reasons. the petitioning coupled claimed that D.Siva Sankar Reddy was YSRC Party state general secretary and was close to both Mr Bhaskar Reddy and Mr Avinash Reddy and also stated Siva Sankar Reddy was a person with known criminal activities in the past, adding that her father was expressed anger against him in the several occations and also instrumental in her father loss of MLC Elections in 2016.[17][18]

The High Court Expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of progress in the investigation by the state police as the murder completed a year stating "It was unfortunate the killers are yet to be traced even after 11 months after the commencement of the Investigation. The court asked the CBI to probe the murder which happened at extraordinary circumstances. Since the killers could be interstate gangs, the court felt CBI could tackle the case." The Court also directed CBI to begin the probe from Pulivendula Police station and complete the probe at the earliest.[19][20]

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website