Venumbaka Vijayasai Reddy (born 1 July 1957) is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture and the National General Secretary of YSR Congress Party. He is a Chartered Accountant by profession.

V. Vijayasai Reddy
Venumbaka Vijayasai Reddy
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
22 June 2016 – 18 July 2028
Preceded byJesudasu Seelam, INC
Constituency Andhra Pradesh[1]
Personal details
Born
Venumbaka Vijayasai Reddy

(1957-07-01) 1 July 1957 (age 67)
Political partyYSR Congress Party
OccupationPolitician, Chartered Accountant

He is a trusted aide[2] of two former Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh: Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy and Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. He is a founding and senior member of the YSR Congress Party and often considered the second-in-charge of the party.[3][4]

Life and Work

edit

Venumbaka Vijayasai Reddy was born on 1 July 1957 in Tallapudi in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to an agricultural family.

He completed his chartered accountancy in Chennai and has been in practice with more than 22 years of experience. He is the senior most Partner in M/s. V S Reddy SP & Associates with offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and other cities of Tamil Nadu.[5]

He is married to Sunanda Reddy, and has a daughter named Neha Reddy.

Vijayasai served as Member of Board of Trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati, for two consecutive Terms (GO Rt No. 1221 dated 08.2006). He also served on the board of several state government undertakings in addition to a stint as the Director of the Oriental Bank of Commerce.[citation needed]

 
Vijayasai Reddy was on the Board of Trustees for the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams, Tirupati

Vijayasai, also financial advisor of several companies including Jagan's Group of companies and was the family auditor of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.[6]

 
V. Vijayasai Reddy taking the oath administered by Shri M. Hamid Ansari in 2016

Member of Parliament

edit

In June 2016, he was the candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Andhra Pradesh and was elected unopposed. In 2023, [7] he was renominated to the Rajya Sabha by the YSRC Parliamentary Party for a second term.[8]

He has been as the longest serving Parliamentary Party leader for the YSR Congress Party from 2016-2024, a total period of 8 consecutive years.[9] He is currently the Parliamentary Party leader in Rajya Sabha.

Until 2022, he was the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce.[10] He has served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture from 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.[11][12][13] He has been thrice nominated for the Panel of Vice-Chairpersons[14] and chaired the Rajya Sabha on numerous occasions,[15] Rajya Sabha and is a Member of the Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha. [16][17]

He has introduced 30 Private Member Bills in the Parliament.[18][19]

As a Member of Parliament, Reddy has served on various Standing Committees:

  • 2016-2018: Petroleum & Natural Gas, Consultative Committee for Agriculture
  • 2018-2022: Subordinate Legislation, General Purposes Committee, and Joint Committee on Office of Profit
  • 2018-2019: Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice
  • 2019-2022: Consultative Committee for Petroleum and Natural Gas
  • 2019-2020: Select Committee on the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019
  • July 2020 - June 2022, Nov. 2022 onwards: Ethics
  • Aug. 2021 - June 2022, Dec. 2022 - April 2023: Public Accounts
  • From Nov. 2022: Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha
  • From May 2023: Public Undertakings

Electoral performance

edit

Reddy expressed interest in contesting a direct election from the Venkatagiri Assembly Constituency when he joined politics. However, Jagan Mohan Reddy nominated him to the Rajya Sabha as an MP.[20] He was also appointed as the Lok Sabha in-charge for the Nellore Parliamentary Constituency, [21] and served as the YSRCP Regional Coordinator for the districts of Joint Prakasam, Joint Nellore, Bapatla, and Narasa Raopet.[22]

He was appointed the Special Representative of the Government of Andhra Pradesh in Delhi.[23]

Lok Sabha elections 2024

edit

YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy was fielded by the ruling party at the prestigious Nellore (Lok Sabha constituency) for the Lok Sabha Election 2024.[24] He was never prepared to contest in 2024 elections as his Rajya Sabha tenure is upto 2028. But he had to contest upon sudden instructions of his supremo as the existing candidate Vemireddy Prabhakara Reddy switched from YSRCP to TDP in the last minute. In a tough battle, He lost the seat to TDP's Nellore MP candidate Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy with a majority of 2.4 Lakh votes. [25]

Awards received

edit

Reddy is a winner of the prestigious Sansad Ratna Award 2023 for his performance as a parliamentarian and was awarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shri. Prahlad Joshi.[26] He is also a winner of the Sansad Maharatna Award 2024 for his performance in chairing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.[27][28]

Embezzlement charges

edit

Arrest

edit

Vijayasai Reddy, an aide and financial advisor of Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested on 2 January 2012, by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).[29] He was the first accused to be arrested in relation to the disproportionate assets charges against Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The charges against Vijaysai Reddy include criminal conspiracheating, criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts and criminal misconduct. In addition, he was also charged with playing a mischief role in the sale of shares, worth 533 crores, of Sandur Power Company.[30]

Timeline of arrests and bails

edit
  • 2 January 2012: First arrest by CBI in relation to disproportionate assets against Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
  • 13 April 2012: Bail granted by Special Court of CBI.[31]
  • 21 April 2012: Cancelled bail by High Court of Andhra Pradesh on review petition by CBI.[31]
  • 23 April 2012: Surrendered in CBI Court
  • 30 April 2012: Granted bail by High Court of Andhra Pradesh, upholding Special Court of CBI's judgement given on 13 April 2012.[31]
  • 5 June 2013: Sent to judicial custody on cancellation of bail by Supreme Court of India.[31]
  • 8 October 2013: Granted bail by Special Court of CBI in Hyderabad.[32]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Piyush Goyal, Chidambaram, Suresh Prabhu, Sharad Yadav elected to Rajya Sabha". The Economic Times. 2016.
  2. ^ "To halt TDP-Jana Sena alliance, Jagan to field trusted aide from Nellore in Lok Sabha polls". The Indian Express. 3 March 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Rise and rise of Vijayasai Reddy, key YSRCP strategist and Jagan confidant". The Indian Express. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  4. ^ Sharma, Vikram (24 May 2019). "Andhra result: Jagan’s right-hand man to play key role in government". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  5. ^ "About Vijayasai reddy". Vijayasai Reddy Venumbaka. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  6. ^ Sharma, Vikram (24 May 2019). "Andhra result: Jagan’s right-hand man to play key role in government". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  7. ^ "YSRCP names Vijay Sai Reddy as candidate for RS polls". NetiAP. 2016.
  8. ^ Centre, National Informatics. "Digital Sansad". Digital Sansad. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  9. ^ "V. Vijayasai Reddy | PRSIndia". PRS Legislative Research. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  10. ^ Talari, Yadedya (14 September 2019). "MP Vijayasai Reddy appointed as Parliamentary Standing Committee chairman". The Hans India. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  11. ^ "MP Vijayasai Reddy takes charge as chairman of parl panel on Transport, Tourism, Culture". ANI News. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  12. ^ "YSRCP's Vijayasai Reddy appointed chairman of parl panel on Transport, Tourism, Culture". ET Infra. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  13. ^ "YSRCP's Vijayasai Reddy Appointed Chairman of Parl Panel on Transport, Tourism, Culture". ZEE5. 10 August 2024.
  14. ^ "YSRCP's Vijayasai Reddy back in Rajya Sabha panel in a thriller of twists". NewsTAP. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Vijayasai Reddy chairs Rajya Sabha". The Hans India. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  16. ^ "WebPage of Shri V. Vijayasai Reddy". Members of Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha Secretariat. 2016.
  17. ^ "V.Vijayasai Reddy elevated as national gen sec". The Hindu. 21 October 2017.
  18. ^ "MP Track on PRS Legislative Research". PRS Legislative Research.
  19. ^ "Vijayasaireddy moves 3 private member bills in RS". www.deccanchronicle.com. 9 December 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  20. ^ "YSRCP's Vijayasai Reddy files nomination at Nellore parliament". The Times of India. 23 April 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Vijaya Sai Reddy is YSRCP's Nellore Lok Sabha incharge". The Hindu. 2 March 2024. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  22. ^ "Key responsibilities given to old guards in YSRCP: Jagan's confidante Vijay Sai Reddy gets all party affiliates". Newsx. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  23. ^ "YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy reinstated as Andhra special representative in Delhi". The News Minute. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  24. ^ Kumar, D. Surendra (10 May 2024). "Heavyweights Vemireddy, Vijayasai Reddy to battle it out in Nellore". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  25. ^ Rangarajan, A. D. (2 March 2024). "Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy joins TDP, announced as party candidate for Nellore Lok Sabha seat". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Rajya Sabha member V Vijaya Sai Reddy gets Sansad Ratna award". The Times of India. 22 February 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  27. ^ "Vijayasai Reddy gets Sansad Maharatna Award". The New Indian Express. 18 February 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  28. ^ "YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy Honoured: Receives Award in Delhi". Sakshi Post. 17 February 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  29. ^ "Jagan's aide Vijay floated firms to park ill-gotten money: CBI". The Indian Express. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  30. ^ "Jagan's aide Vijay Sai Reddy arrested". The Hindu. 2 January 2012. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  31. ^ a b c d "Vijay Sai Reddy sent to judicial custody till June 17". The Hindu. 5 June 2013.
  32. ^ "Quid pro quo case: Jagan's aide Vijay Sai Reddy gets bail". The Economic Times. 8 October 2013.