Hyderabad: The resignation of K Rosaiah, who took over nearly 14 months ago, ends a tumultuous tenure as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister having faced the twin challenges posed by the Telanagana movement and dissident leader Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
77-year-old Rosaiah stepped down in the midst of a raging controversy over attacks on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Jaganmohan-owned Sakshi TV channel and newspaper and hours before a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on the issue.
Jaganmohan had been critical of Rosaiah government, hitting out at the chief minister in public and had even defied the party high command and continued his controversial 'Odarpu' yatra - seen as a challenge to the chief minister.
Rosaiah, a low profile and non-controversial leader, who had been a minister in successive Congress governments since 1979, took over following the death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a chopper crash last year. But Reddy's supporters had made it clear that they were unhappy with the move and Rosaiah's appointment was seen as a stop-gap measure.
Rosaiah held various portfolios under different Chief Ministers but he had been most popular as a finance minister.
He, in fact, set a record by presenting as many as 15 Budgets to the Assembly.
Born on July 4, 1933 at Vemuru in Guntur district, the commerce graduate has been active in politics since his student days in the Hindu College, Guntur.
He was a close follower of the late parliamentarian and farmers' leader Prof N G Ranga.
Rosaiah served as a member of AP Legislative Council in 1968, 1974 and 1980 and soon became a Minister for Roads and Buildings in 1979 under Marri Channa Reddy.
Subsequently, Rosaiah served as a minister in the cabinets of T Anjaiah, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy and N Janardhana Reddy and had served as a minister in the YSR cabinet since May 2004. He had held portfolios like home, health, education and transport.
He also served as Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president between 1995 and 1997 and was elected to Lok Sabha from Narsaraopet in 1998.
Andhra University had conferred an honorary doctorate on Rosaiah in 2007. Rosaiah is married to Sivalaxmi and has three sons and a daughter.