DS brought luck to Congress, but he was unlucky

Dharmapuri Srinivas aka DS who died in the early hours of Saturday was a lucky hand for the Congress, but he was unlucky.
In United Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of DS who was APCC President, the Congress came to power twice. However, DS did not get a chance to become the Chief Minister.
When the Congress was away from power for 10 years and before the 2004 Assembly elections, DS was appointed as the APCC President.
In the 2004 Assembly elections, DS played a key role in bringing back the Congress to power after 10 years. The late Chief Minister, YS Rajasekhar, was the CLP leader at that time. Usually, as per convention, if the Congress comes to power PCC presidents are made the Chief Minister. But the Congress high command made CLP leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy the CM.
Before the 2009 Assembly elections, DS was made the PCC President again. It had become a convention for the Congress high command to make DS the PCC President before Assembly elections to bring the party to power.
In 2009 also, under PCC president DS, the Congress retained power. But at that time too DS did not get a chance to become the Chief Minister. The Congress high command continued YS Rajasekhar Reddy as the Chief Minister due to YSR’s following in the Congress and among the public.
The then AICC President Sonia Gandhi felt that they did an injustice to DS when the Congress came to power in the 2004 and 2009 Assembly elections. She told this to a close associate of YS Rajasekhar Reddy and she had a lot of sympathy for DS.
Generally, any political leader would resign from his party in these circumstances. After the state’s bifurcation in the 2014 Assembly elections, the Congress lost power.
In the changed political circumstances, DS quit the Congress and joined the BRS. Before resigning from the Congress, DS met AICC President Sonia Gandhi and explained the reasons for leaving the party.
DS had great respect for Sonia Gandhi and she had a special regard for him. DS was Minister under several Chief Ministers and was a close confidante of Chief Ministers Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and Marri Chenna Reddy.