President condoles death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister

President Mahinda Rajapaksa sent the following condolence message to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the tragic demise of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

"It is with deep regret that I learnt of the tragic demise in a helicopter accident of the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister of the State of Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Minister served the people of his State and India with great dedication. The people in turn reposed their faith and trust in him and repeatedly elected him, on four occasions to the Lok Sabha and to State Assembly on five occasions. The appreciation for his services was most strongly articulated this year, with the clear success of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh in both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections.

Rajasekhara Reddy will be remembered by us in Sri Lanka as a friend who was committed to the further strengthening of Indo-Lanka relations. It was during his tenure in office that the flagship investment of an integrated apparel project was undertaken in Visakhapatnam by the Sri Lanka based company Brandix.

The Government and people of Sri Lanka join me in extending through Your Excellency our profound condolences to the Government and people of India and to the family of the late Chief Minister, as well as to the next-of-kin of the others who passed away in the accident."