Mekapati Goutham Reddy (2 November 1971 – 21 February 2022) was an Indian businessman and politician from the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. He was the Minister for Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology in the

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

. He was elected twice and served as the

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) in the

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly ( Telugu: ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ శాసన సభ, ISO: ''Āndhra Pradēś Śāsana Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state, Andhra Pradesh. ...

representing the

Atmakur Assembly constituency Atmakur Assembly constituency is a constituency in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh that elects representatives to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia ...

on behalf of

YSR Congress Party The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (, YSRCP or YCP), often shortened to simply the YSR Congress Party, is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The party was initially registere ...

from 2014 until his death in 2022. As a minister, he made efforts in framing new policies in industrial and IT sectors. He viewed information technology (IT) to be the factor that would transform Andhra Pradesh to be a trillion-dollar economy. He led a delegation team to Dubai

Expo 2020 Expo 2020 () was a World Expo hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Ara ...

in February 2022 in order to attract investments to the state. Goutham Reddy died in 2022 due to a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 50. After he just returned from the Dubai

, he suffered the fatal event, marking a significant loss to

political landscape and its industrial sector.

Personal life

Mekapati Goutham Reddy was born on 2 November 1971 to

Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy (born 11 June 1944) is a former member of the 9th Lok Sabha, 14th Lok Sabha, 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Nellore Loksabha Constituency in Andhra Pradesh and is a member of the YSR Congress. Reddy lost ...

and Mani Manjari. He hailed from Brahmanapalli village in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh. He had two brothers, Prithvi Kumar Reddy and Vikram Reddy. His father, Rajamohan Reddy, was a former Member of Parliament of

Nellore Lok Sabha constituency Nellore Lok Sabha constituency is one of the twenty-five Lok Sabha constituencies of Andhra Pradesh in India. It comprises seven assembly segments and belongs to Nellore district. Assembly segments Following the delimitation of the parliament ...

. His paternal uncle, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, is a politician and was a former Member of Legistalive Assembly representing

Udayagiri Assembly constituency Udayagiri Assembly constituency is a constituency in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh that elects representatives to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in India. It is one of the seven assembly segments of Nellore Lok Sabha constituency ...

. Reddy did his schooling in Good Shepherd International School in

Ooty, Tamil Nadu Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located northwest of Coimbatore, and is the headquarters of N ...

and graduated from Badruka College of Commerce and Arts, Hyderabad. He pursued his Master's degree in Apparel and Textiles during 1994 and 1997 from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was married to Srikeerthi and the couple had two children, a son and a daughter. He was tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

twice, once in April 2021 and later in January 2022.

Business career

Reddy had been managing KMC Constructions since his post-graduation in 1997. He, along with his family, had controlling shares in several companies including KMC Constructions, KMC Road Holdings, KMC Infratech, Guruvayoor Infrastructure, Brindavan Infrastructure, Krishnarjuna Real Estates, Andaman Angling Agency, Pink City Expressway, Rayalaseema Expressway and North Malabar Expressway. These companies operate in road construction, real estate and infrastructure sectors.

Political career

Reddy started his political career in 2014 contesting from the Atmakur constituency on behalf of

. He won the 2014 election as the MLA against the incumbent

Anam Ramanarayana Reddy Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (born 10 July 1952) is an Indian politician. He is currently serving as the cabinet minister in the Government of Andhra Pradesh and also Member of Legislative Assembly from Atmakur Assembly constituency. Previously, he ...

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and defeated his closest opponent, GM Kanna Babu, of the

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...

(TDP) with a majority of 31,412 votes polled for him. In 2019 election, he contested again from Atmakur constituency and won as the MLA against his close opponent, Bollineni Krishnaiah of TDP. He declared assets of in the affidavit submitted for the election. In June 2019, he joined the state government's cabinet and was given the portfolio of Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology. In April 2021, his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account was hacked and malicious messages were tweeted.

Minister for Industries, Commerce, and IT (2019–2022)

Policies and investments

During his term as a minister, Reddy was instrumental in framing new policies such as AP Industrial Development Policy 2020-23, YSR EMC Kopparthy Electronics policy, Jagannana YSR Kopparthy Mega Industrial Hub Policy 2020 and AP IT Policy 2021-24. According to Reddy, Andhra Pradesh had attracted investments worth from 65 large and mega industries between June 2019 and May 2021 during his term. Following the criticism by the opposition

(TDP), Reddy took to Twitter and shared the details of the investments. In 2020, Andhra Pradesh retained the top rank in

ease of doing business Ease or EASE may refer to: Computing * Ease (programming language) * Enhanced Acoustic Simulator for Engineers, software for optimizing acoustics Health and medicine * Methylone, marketed briefly in New Zealand as Ease *Examination of Anomalous ...

among the Indian states following his initiatives. He invited the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

to explore investment and growth opportunities in the state, while addressing a 2021 virtual summit held with their government officials. He suggested mining, infrastructure, skills development, IT and manufacturing sectors would be the potential areas for collaboration between the two governments.

Dubai Expo 2020

In February 2022, Reddy led the Andhra Pradesh government's delegation in his ministerial capacity at Dubai

, where the state government had a stall at India's

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

. He laid a pitch to the attendance projecting Andhra Pradesh as a resourceful and business-friendly state and established it as a destination for businesses. The visit resulted in investment offers worth to the state and memorandum of understandings with several companies with an intent to invest over .

Views on IT

Reddy envisioned information technology (IT) to empower Andhra Pradesh in becoming an incubation hub and transform the state into a trillion dollar economy. At Dubai Expo 2022, he strived to bring investments into the state in the IT sector.

Death

Reddy died on 21 February 2022 due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in Hyderabad, caused by post COVID-19 complications. Despite

resuscitation Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an Acute (medicine), acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emerg ...

efforts of conducting

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

for more than 90 minutes at

Apollo Hospitals Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is an Indian multinational healthcare group headquartered in Chennai. It is the largest for-profit private hospital network in India, with a network of 71 owned and managed hospitals. Along with the eponym ...

Jubilee Hills Jubilee Hills is an affluent suburban neighbourhood in the western part of Hyderabad, Telangana. It is one of the most expensive commercial and residential locations in India with prime land prices fetching up to []. A tract of land in the cit ...

, he could not be revived. In the wake of his death, the makers of the movie ''Bheemla Nayak'' postponed their pre-release event as a sign of respect. The state government announced a two-day state mourning period. The last rites were performed on 23 February with state honours at Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy Institute of Technology and Science in

Udayagiri, Nellore district Udayagiri is a town in Udayagiri Mandal in the Nellore district of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Geography Udayagiri is located at . It has an average elevation of 230 meters (757 feet). History First known history of the city is ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mekapati, Goutham Reddy 1971 births 2022 deaths YSR Congress Party politicians People from Nellore district Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2014–2019 Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2019–2024 Businesspeople from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople Alumni of the University of Manchester State cabinet ministers of Andhra Pradesh Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India