Damodaram Saneevaiah

Damodaram Sanjeevaiah was a parliamentarian and a leader of the masses committed to the cause of social upliftment of the drown trodden. He was born on 14th February 1921 in a poor family of Pedapadu village in Kurnool District in Andhra Pradesh to Shri Muneaiah and Smt. Sunkulamma. He completed his primary education in the village and moved to Kurnool Municipal High School. He completed graduation in 1942 from Arts College Anantapur. With a degree in law from Madras, he practiced for a short period. He married Ms. Krishnaveni on 7th May 1954.

His long political career commenced in 1950 when he was elected as Member of Parliament. In the General Elections held in the year 1952, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly as one of the two members from Pathikonda Constituency. Sh. C.  Rajagopalachari,  the Chief  Minister of the  then state of Madras, appointed him as Minister in charge of the Departments of Housing and Cooperation.

The state of Andhra Pradesh was created in 1953. Sh. Damodaram Sanjeevaiah was a natural choice for induction into the government of Sh. T. Prakasam, the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was made Minister of Social Welfare,  Rehabilitation,  Planning and   Public   Health.   Elected   to   the   Legislative Assembly   of  Andhra   Pradesh  from  Yemmiganur constituency during the 1955 mid term elections, he was appointed Minister in charge of the Departments of  Transportation  and  Commercial  Taxes  by  Shri Bejawada Gopala Reddy, the then new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. When Shri Sanjeeva Reddy took over as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, Shri. Damodaram Sanjeevaiah    was entrusted the Departments of Labour and Local Bodies Administration. In 1960,  Shri   Neelam   Sanjeeva Reddy was elected as President of the All India Congress Committee and resigned from the post of Chief Minister. Shri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah was the successor and took over as the fourth Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 11 January 1960. He held this office as such till March 1962. In the elections that followed he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh from Kodumuru Constituency. In June 1962, he was elected as the President of the All India Congress Committee.

Shri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah also had the distinction of working under three Prime Ministers of India. In 1964, he joined as Labour Minister  under Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. After Pandit Nehru’s demise, he continued as Labour Minister under the next Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri. From February 1970 to March 1971 he was in the cabinet headed by Smt. Indira Gandhi.

In 1972, he was elected for the second time as the President of the All India Congress Committee. On 8th May 1972, Shri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah expired after a life of active service to the nation.