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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
It is a strange coincidence, rather a quirk of fate, that the presiding officers of both Houses of Indian Parliament died in harness within a span of five months.
In both cases, death was stunningly sudden.
While the then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi died in a helicopter crash in his home state -- Andhra Pradesh -- on March 3, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Krishan Kant succumbed to a massive heart attack on Saturday morning.
Both were the first presiding officers of their respective Houses, who died in office in the 55-year-history of post-independence Parliament.
Both of them had their 'connections' with Andhra Pradesh and, in a way, state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was responsible for their elevation to these high offices.
Balayogi, belonging to Telugu Desam Party, was the first Dalit leader to become the Lok Sabha speaker in 1998 after Chandrababu Naidu extended his party's support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
Krishan Kant, who had the longest innings of seven and a half years as Andhra Pradesh governor, was elevated to the Vice-President's post at the initiative of Chandrababu Naidu, who was the United Front convenor in 1997.
Incidentally, it was Kant who had played a crucial, yet controversial role, during the political crisis in Andhra Pradesh in August 1995.
He had invited Chandrababu Naidu, leader of the breakaway group of Telugu Desam Party, to form the government, after the then Chief Minister N T Rama Rao resigned a few days before he was supposed to seek a vote of confidence in the state assembly.
NTR, who was unseated by Naidu, his own son-in-law in what is considered to be a party and family coup, later moved the Andhra Pradesh high court against his ouster.
However, the high court rejected NTR's petition against Kant's action.
From that time onwards, Naidu had close rapport with Kant, who had a special relationship with the state. Kant visited the state several times after he became Vice-President. He visited Hyderabad for the last time in May amid speculation that Naidu was keen on his elevation as President of India.
Naidu later dropped the move when no consensus emerged in the ruling NDA over Kant's nomination.
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