YSR laid to rest with full state honours in his hometown

The late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been laid to rest in his hometown Pulivendula, in Kadapa district. Thousands of
Manmohan Singh
PM Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi console Vijaya Lakshmi, wife of Andhra CM Rajasekhar Reddy, in Hyderabad. (PTI Photo)
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mourners gathered to pay their last respects to their beloved leader.

YSR, who died in a chopper crash Wednesday, was buried at his family estate Edupulapaya in Pulivendula town by the side of his parents. This estate was the place he loved the most. The lush green family estate spread over 100 acres is located 40 km from Pulivendula town.

The late Andhra CM stayed at the estate during his every visit to Kadapa district and inquired about various plantations in the estate.

The estate, owned by YSR's family for over three decades, was at the centre of a controversy as opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had alleged that the family acquired the land in violation of various regulations. A case filed by a TDP leader is pending in the court, according to IANS.

YSR’s body was flown on Friday afternoon to Pulivendula for burial. The body was flown in an army helicopter from Begumpet airport here after thousands of people paid their last respects at the L S Stadium in Hyderabad.

There was an outpouring of grief across Andhra Pradesh on Friday with much of the state shutting down to mourn the late chief minister, whose funeral cortege snaked its way through surging crowds from his home in Hyderabad to the stadium where national leaders and people lined up to pay homage.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi were among the many leaders who flew in from New Delhi to condole the death of the chief minister, whose body was found in the forests of Nallamala on Thursday, a day after his helicopter had crashed.

That YSR, as the chief minister was popularly known, was one of the Congress' most powerful leaders was underscored by reports that 67 people had died in the state - either out of shock or by committing suicide - after hearing about the death.

Accompanied by several central ministers, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi laid wreaths on the body placed in his residence and camp office in Begumpet. They met the late leader's wife Vijayalakshmi, son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who issued an appeal asking people not to commit suicide, and daughter Sharmila.

From the camp office, the body of YSR was taken to the Congress headquarters Gandhi Bhavan to enable party leaders to pay respect and from there to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, six kilometres away, where he had been sworn in for a second term in office only four months ago.

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had taken oath as chief minister for a second term on May 20 in this stadium where his body was now brought to enable people to pay their last respects.