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A profile

The Times of India, April 20, 2015 Akshaya Mukul

1969 Telangana agitation brought Sitaram to Delhi

Yechury belongs to coastal Andhra Pradesh but has been a votary of united Andhra and was anointed general secretary in his home state.

Son of an engineer father and government officer mother, Yechury , known for his networking skills and friends across parties, was the first president of Students Federation of India who was not from Bengal or Kerala. The Telangana agitation of 1969 brought him to Delhi where he completed his school education and stayed on. Academically bright ­ his record in economics in JNU was unbroken for many years ­ Yechury went to St Stephens College in Delhi University . But it was in JNU that Yechury cut his teeth in politics, first in SFI and then CPM. During Emergency , he went underground and was arrested but after it was lifted, he became JNU students' Union president thrice between 1977 and 1978.

His rise in CPM was swift.He came to the central committee in 1985 and to the politburo in 1992. One of the first tasks entrusted to him in CC was to look after the party's international relations. A protégé of Sundarraya and Surjeet, Yechury was also close to party ideologue Makineni Basavapunnaiah. Groomed as the party's public face, Yechury played a key role during the United Front government and UPA-1 regime.

One quality that has stood Yechury in good stead and contributed to his affable persona is his ability to retain friendships even with excomrades who are generally frowned upon by the party and shunned socially . His many JNU friends who were in SFI with him and subsequently moved away ideologically are still good friends with him. Another quality is his felicity with languages, be it Bangla, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and even a smattering of Malayalam.

Well-versed with Hindu mythology and world history , Yechury has often used this knowledge to his advantage in the Parliament, especially in putting BJP on the mat. Into his second term in Rajya Sabha, Yechury has become the party's main asset in Parliament whose voice is taken seriously . Only recently , he was the prime mover of seeking a division on amendments to the presidential address that was won by the united opposition.

Eclectic in his reading habits, Yechury can enthrall with his range -be it a book like `Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea' or `Musicophilia' or plain murder mystery . His daughter Akhila Yechury is a historian and teaches in Edinburgh University . Married to journalist Seema Chisti, he also has two sons.