Leaders hail Jaipal Reddy as 'great orator and administrator'

Tributes continued to pour in for veteran Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy, who passed away on Sunday, with leaders hailing him as a "great orator and administrator".

Reddy's mortal remains were consigned to flames on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad with full state honours.

Senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, P C Chacko, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and K R Ramesh Kumar, who resigned as Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly Monday, were among those present on the occasion.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a condolence letter to Jaipal Reddy's wife Lakshmi, hailed him as a "treasure of wisdom and knowledge".

"In his death, our country has lost a great administrator and an outstanding leader who always worked for the betterment of the poor and downtrodden people of the society," Singh said.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said Reddy served the country well as a legislator of Andhra Pradesh and a member in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

He was quite articulate and made himself an eminent orator in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, Moily said.

"As an administrator of eminence, he has established his own signature in governance. Nation has lost a great orator, eminent administrator and a great parliamentarian," Moily said.

Reddy, who was known for his oratorical skills and had carved a place for himself in Parliament and state assembly, died at a hospital here on Sunday after a brief illness. He was 77.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, who paid homage to Reddy at the Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad, recalled his association with the late leader since his college days.

"He (Jaipal Reddy) is one of those rare breed of politicians who could combine scholarship with politics," Yechury said.