AP chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy surprised everyone in the Assembly on Tuesday when he announced two gifts in memory of his childhood friend, late Mekapati Gowtham Reddy, who died of cardiac arrest in February this year.
The chief minister himself moved the condolence motion in the Assembly for his friend and then recalled how Gowtham Reddy had been a great support to him in personal life as well as political life. He said Gowtham Reddy was not in politics when he quit the Congress and launched the YSR Congress, but made his family stand by him.
Even as Minister handling half-a-dozen portfolios Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Gowtham Reddy worked hard to mobilise investments to the state. He said Gowtham Reddy was in constant touch while mobilising investments in the Dubai expo, which was his last assignment.
Jagan Mohan Reddy offered two gifts in honour of his friend in the Assembly. The first was to rename the Sangam Barrage on Penna river after Gowtham Reddy. The second was taking over the Rajamohan Reddy Institute of Technology and Science in Udayagiri as requested by the family.
The state government would introduce agriculture and horticulture courses as suggested by Gowtham Reddy’s father Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, a one-time MLA and five-time MP.
