Dr. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, one of the foremost political leaders from 1936 to 1969, was born on 19 May 1913 at Illur in the Anantapur taluka and district of Andhra Pradesh. He came of a respectable and well-do-do agriculturist family. His father's name is Neelam Chinnapa Reddy. Sanjeeva Reddy's younger brother, Neelam Rajasekhara Reddy, is a well known Communist Party (C. P. I.) leader, who had also suffered imprisonment several times during the freedom struggle.

Sanjeeva Reddy's wife's name is Naga Ratnamma. His brother-in-law (his wife's brother as well as his sister's husband), Tarimela Nagi Reddy, is also a well known freedom fighter and a prominent Communist Party leader. Tarimela Nagi Reddy resigned his membership of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1968 and joined the Revolutionary Communist Party. Sanjeeva Reddy is Hindu by religion and a Reddy by caste.

Sanjeeva Reddy had his early education at Adyar, Madras, and then at the Art College at Anantapur. While still in college he gave up his studies to participate in the freedom struggle launched by Mahatma Gandhi.

He first took part in the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1931. He actively participated in the Youth Congress organisation's activities. Within a few years he came into prominence as a political figure and became the Secretary of the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee in 1936. It is a testimony to his qualities of leadership that he continued to hold this office till 1946. He took part in the Individual Satyagraha Movement and was sentenced on 21 December 1940 to six months' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of RS. 500/- or in default to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months.

He was detained in the Vellore and Tiruchirapalli jails. After his release he was immediately arrested under the Defence of India Rules and kept detained again in the Vellore jail from 1 June 1941 to 18 March 1942. Sanjeeva Reddy took an active part in the Quit India Movement. He was again arrested on 11 August 1942 and kept detained till 1945 in the Vellore and Amaravati jails.

In 1946 Sanjeeva Reddy was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly and later on he became the Secretary of the Congress Legislature Party in Madras. He was also elected to the Constituent Assembly of India. From April 1949 to April 1951 he served as Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests in the Madras Government.

Sanjeeva Reddy was elected President of the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee. He was also a

When the new Andhra Pradesh was constituted, Sanjeeva Reddy became its first Chief Minister and served in that capacity from November 1956 of December 1959. In December 1959 he was elected President of the Indian National Congress and he continued in that office till May 1962. He again became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1962 for one year. Later he was appointed Minister for Civil Aviation in the Central Cabinet.

Sanjeeva Reddy was elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 1967 and continued in that office till July 1969. He resigned from that office to contest for the office of the President as against. This Presidential contest proved to be of momentous consequences for the history of the Indian National Congress. Sanjeeva Reddy was nominated as the official candidate of the Congress Party for the Presidentship at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee held in Bangalore.

He was supported by all the old stalwarts of the Congress. But this nomination was bitterly disliked by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Presidential contest split the Congress into two, as the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with some of her Cabinet colleagues and important leaders of the Congress came to be divided into the Congress (O) and Congress (R) parties. The Presidential election went in favour of V. V. Giri, thanks to the support of the Indira Gandhi wing of the Congress and of all the leftist parties in the country.

The split in the Congress gradually widened and in the 1971 mid-term election, the Congress (R) had a landslide victory and the Congress (O) was reduced to a party of little significance. Since then Sanjeeva Reddy has virtually retired from politics. Apart from other things, he will be specially remembered in history for the split in the Congress organisation which he and his friends did not genuinely want. However, there can be no doubt about his patriotic zeal and the valuable services he had rendered to the cause of freedom struggle in the country.