K.S. Reddy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Krishna S. Reddy was a Fiji Indian school teacher, leader of a farmers' union and both a nominated and elected member of the Legislative Council.

When the Shri Vivekananda High School was established on on 9 March 1949, K.S. Reddy was appointed its first Principal.

When the Maha Sangh was established in 1941, K.S. Reddy's father became its first Secretary, but on his death the position was passed onto his son, K.S. Reddy. In 1953, the Governor appointed him to one of the two seats reserved for nominated Indian members. His elevation to aposition of influence within the society brought him into conflict with A.D. Patel, who until then was the undisputed leader of the Maha Sangh. K.S. Reddy's other advantage was he was based in Nadi, was a South Indian like most Maha Sangh supporters and held the powerful position of General Secretary of the union. Competition between the two reached a crisis on 31 March 1956, when at a meeting in Nadi, Reddy asked non-financial members to leave. Their refusal to leave led to police being called and tear gas used. The split between the two factions within the Maha Sangh remained until the negotiations for the 1960 sugar cane contract.

K.S. Reddy later joined the Alliance Party while A.D. Patel had formed the Federation Party. In the 1966 election, Reddy was given the ticket to the Western cross-voting seat by the Alliance Party. This seat was regarded as safe for the Federation Party because of its large Indian majority, but Reddy surprised everyone by winning the election and was appointed an assistant Minister in the next Alliance Government.