Y S Chowdary

Early life and Career

Chowdary was born in Kanchikacherla village situated in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) in Hyderabad in 1984. He completed his master's degree in Machine Tool Engineering from the PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. In 1986, he founded the Sujana Group of Companies.

Political career

Y S Chowdary's entered national politics in 2010 when he was elected as Member of Parliament into the Rajya Sabha, representing the Telugu Desam Party from Andhra Pradesh on June 22, 2010.

On November 9, 2014, during the first Cabinet Expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's NDA Government (National Democratic Alliance (India)), Mr Chowdary was appointed as the Minister of State for Science & Technology, & Earth Sciences. In 2010, Chowdary ran unopposed and was elected as a Member of the Parliament to the Rajya Sabha. He represents the Telugu Desam Party in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was elected as the TDP's Parliamentary Leader on June 4, 2014.

Chowdary has been appointed as member of the Indo-Singapore Parliamentary Friendship Group, jointly set up as a step towards strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries’ Parliaments. He was a member of the Government of India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, the Parliamentary Forum on Youth, the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

On November 9, 2014, Y S Chowdary joined the Union Council of Ministers as Minister of State for Science and Technology, & Earth Science.

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

Under the SAGY Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana program, Y S Chowdary has adopted the Ponnavaram village, which is located 60 km from Vijayawada. Under the program, he has initiated the transforming of the area into a model village by adopting various development programs.

Sujana Charitable Trust

The Sujana Charitable Trust and the Sujana Foundation, manifest the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. The Foundation supports two schools for challenged children in Chennai, an Old Age Home in Hyderabad, and grants scholarships and merit awards for excellence in the areas of academics, sports, social entrepreneurship, innovation in engineering, agriculture, poverty alleviation and rural development.

Controversy

YS Chowdary was under media scanner for an allegation by the Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd of Mauritius on the grounds that the company defaulted on the Rs 192 crore loan it availed through its subsidiary. This allegation popped up a day after the Rajya Sabha MP-cum-industrialist was sworn in as a Union minister.

A clarification from the MPs office later, said that he had not secured loan from the Mauritius Commercial Bank. It was his group firm — Sujana Universal Industries —and he just stood as a guarantor to the loan obtained by a step-down subsidiary.

He called andhra people's fight for special status as "pig's fight"

Personal life

Chowdary married Padmaja on August 6, 1989. The couple have two children, Y. S. Karthik and Y. Naga Chandini.