Agonising wait for YSR's family

3 September 2009,

HYDERABAD: It is an agonising wait for the family of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who remained untraced nearly 24 hours after the chopper carrying him and four others went missing in the dense Nallamalla forests.

The chief minister's wife Vijayalaxmi and other family members remain confined at the chief minister's camp office in Begumpet area here, praying for his safe return while his son and MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy has reached Atmakur in Kurnool district, where the authorities are coordinating search operations.

KVP Ramchandra Rao, a close aide of the chief minister, is keeping the family posted of the search operations being carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army and police.

YSR's daughter Sharmila and her children reached Hyderabad from Bangalore in the early hours on Thursday. She is also in touch with the senior officials overseeing search operations from the state secretariat.

Sources in the chief minister's office said Congress president Sonia Gandhi also spoke to YSR's wife and other family members over phone.

The chief minister's son-in-law evangelist Brother Anil Kumar is returning to Hyderabad by cutting short his visit to the US.

YSR's brother YS Vivekananda Reddy offered special prayers in a church in their native Pulivendula town in Kadapa district.

YSR, who turned 60 on July 8, was on his way to Chittoor district from Hyderabad to attend a function when the chopper carrying him and four others went missing.