Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister killed in copter crash

(September 3, 2009) The sixty year old Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy, a powerful Indian politician and four other people were killed when their helicopter crashed in the dense jungles of southern India during a pounding rainstorm, on Wednesday, 2^nd of September. On Thursday morning, commandoes and police finally reached the site of the crash after hacking through the jungles and found the bodies of all five people who had been on the aircraft, including Dr. Reddy. Television also reported that five bodies had been found at the site about 275 kilometres south of the state capital, Hyderabad. The privately owned helicopter took off from Hyderabad and lost contact with air traffic controllers about 45 minutes into the flight. Reddy, who was surveying drought conditions in some of the remote parts of the state. Dr Reddy belongs to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling Congress Party. A devout Christian in Hindu-majority India, and a medical doctor by profession, Reddy worked his way into the Congress leadership over the past three decades by taking up the cause of poor farmers and landless labourers. He has built several educational institutions and handed them over to Loyola Academy run by the Jesuits. Mgr. Marampudi Joji, archbishop of Hyderabad, said that the Church of Andhra Pradesh has lost a champion of the oppressed and a champion of the rights of Dalit Christians. The chief minister understood their suffering and injustices they bore. Only a few days ago, on 26 August, he had sponsored a motion to the state's official central government in New Delhi, asking that Christian Dalits be ensured the same rights as Hindu Dalits. The bishop of Hyderabad, describes the Chief Minister as "a model politician and leader. All have benefited from his inclusive politics, especially the poor and marginalized. He has never acted to discriminate on the basis of caste or creed”. A Christian who was "never afraid to declare his faith", Reddy was frequently threatened by extremist groups who did not accept his policy of equality.