Hyderabad: The untimely demise of Telangana statehood activist and BRS leader Jitta Balakrishna Reddy has left many in Telangana society grief-stricken. He passed away at the age of 52 while undergoing a brain related complication at Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad on Friday morning.
His last rites were held at his farmhouse in Maggampalli village located on the outskirts of Bhuvanagiri town on Friday evening. He is survived by his wife Sunitha, a daughter and a son.
Expressing his deepest condolences to the bereaved family members, chief minister A Revanth Reddy said that Jitta was his close friend, and had played a key role during the Telangana movement by unifying the youth to fight for Telangana’s statehood. Revanth said that Jitta had carved a unique mark for himself in the state’s politics.
A native of Bommaipally village in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district, Jitta was born on December 14, 1972. He was active in politics since his student days, and has been the leader of the Telangana Rashtra or TRS (now BRS) youth wing during the party’s early years.
As he wasn’t given a ticket to contest from Bhongir assembly constituency in 2004 and 2009, he contested as an independent candidate in 2009 elections but wasn’t successful. He had joined the Congress when Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He flouted his own party named ‘Yuva Telangana Party’ in 2018 and once again unsuccessfully contested the Bhongir assembly election.
He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when Karimnagar MP and Union minister Bandi Sanjay was the party’s state president earlier, and Balakrishan Reddy merged his political outfit with BJP. He however joined the Congress after Sanjay was removed from the post. After a brief stint in Congress, he joined the BRS before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While there was talk about the BRS fielding him from the Bhongir Lok Sabha segment, he wasn’t given a ticket.
His health condition deteriorated in the last few days, and fate had other plans for him. Balakrishna was known as a person who sold away his properties to fund the Telangana movement.
