Konijeti Rosaiah, a veteran Congress leader and former combined Andhra Pradesh chief minister who later served as the governor of Tamil Nadu, died on Saturday morning after suffering a cardiac stroke. His wife, three sons, and a daughter survive the 88-year-old leader. 

Rosaiah had a sudden drop in blood pressure in the morning at his Ameerpet home in Hyderabad, according to his family, before being rushed to Star Hospitals in Banjara Hills, where he was declared dead. 

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The former chief minister was brought in unresponsive and declared dead at 8.20 am, according to a hospital bulletin.

Rosaiah was born on July 4, 1933, in Vemuru village, Guntur district, and had been involved in politics for more than six decades. It began as a student union leader at Hindu College in Guntur, where he was studying commerce. 

Rosaiah was a four-term member of the state legislative council in 1968, 1974, 1980, and 2009, and was elected to the legislative assembly of the undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1989 as well as in 2004 from Chirala assembly constituency in Prakasam district. He was a disciple of Swatantra Party leader N G Ranga. In 1998, he was elected to the Narsaraopet parliamentary constituency as a Member of Parliament (MP). 

Rosaiah served several Congress chief ministers, from Marri Channa Reddy in 1978 to YS Rajasekhar Reddy from 2004 to 2009. He held a number of important positions, but his most well-known was as the finance minister in YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s state cabinet.

After YSR’s death in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009, he took over as Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister, a position he held until November 4, 2010, when he was succeeded by N Kiran Kumar Reddy. 

The separate Telangana movement peaked during his tenure as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, prompting the start of the Telangana state formation process. 

Rosaiah was appointed as the governor of Tamil Nadu on August 31, 2011, and served until August 30, 2016. Furthermore, he also served as the acting governor of Karnataka between July and September 2014.

Rosaiah stayed out of politics after his term as governor ended, only attending social functions on occasion. 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana Congress unit chief A Revanth Reddy, and a number of other leaders expressed their sorrow at his death.