Rosaiah is next Governor of Tamil Nadu

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The former chief minister and the senior-most Congress leader of the state, Konijeti Rosaiah, 79, will be the next Governor of Tamil Nadu.

Surjeet Singh Barnala completed his five-year stint as the Tamil Nadu Governor recently and Mr Rosaiah, who was attending a function on Thursday night, was sounded by the Union minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, regarding the posting.

When Deccan Chronicle contacted Rosaiah, he said, “So far there has been no official communication appointing me as Governor of Tamil Nadu, I can react to it only when I get the communiqué. I will be happy and follow whatever the party leadership decides and directs me to do.”

After the sudden death of YSR in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, had chosen Rosaiah as the Chief Minister. He had resigned from the CM’s post on November 24, 2010 citing personal and health reasons. He is currently an MLC and will resign his seat after the formal communiqué regarding his appointment is issued by the president.

On Thursday, the Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, was among the first to greet Rosaiah. Born in July 1933 at Vemuru in Guntur district, Mr Rosaiah has been active in politics since his student days.

A Commerce graduate, he was a follower of the late Parliamentarian and farmers’ leader Prof. N.G. Ranga. The leader has held several portfolios, but was most popular as finance minister.