Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jaipal Reddy passes away

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy passed away in the early hours here on Sunday.

He was ailing and breathed his last at 1:30 am in Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in Hyderabad.

The Congress veteran is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

"We are saddened to hear of the passing of former Union Minister Jaipal Reddy. A senior Congress leader, he served as a Lok Sabha MP five times, a Rajya Sabha MP twice and as an MLA four times. We hope his family and friends find strength in their time of grief," tweeted the Congress party from its official Twitter account.

Born in 1942, Reddy's journey into the political discourse started when he was elected as the president of the Andhra Pradesh Youth Congress.

He went on to become a Congress legislator for four consecutive terms in the 1970s and held key portfolios in various governments, thereafter.

In 1979, he joined Janata Dal and returned to the Congress party after 20 years in 1999 and held ministerial berths.

He was also conferred with the best parliamentarian award in 1998.

Reddy got elected to Lok Sabha for five terms in 1984, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009.

He served as a Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the IK Gujral cabinet in 1998.

In 2004, Reddy was re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha from Miryalguda Constituency and served as the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Union Minister for Urban Development.

In 2009, he was re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Chevella constituency and served as a Union Minister for Urban Development and Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

He was given the portfolio of Union Minister for the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology from 2012 to 2014.