<P> In 1951, in a closely contested election, he was elected President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee defeating NG Ranga . When the Andhra State was formed in 1953, T. Prakasam became its Chief Minister and Reddy became the deputy . After the later formation of the Andhra Pradesh state by incorporating Telangana with the Andhra State, Reddy became its first Chief Minister from 1 November 1956 to 11 January 1960 . He was Chief Minister for a second time from 12 March 1962 to 20 February 1964, thus holding that office for over five years . Reddy was MLA from Sri Kalahasti and Dhone respectively during his stints as Chief Minister . The Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam multipurpose river valley projects were initiated during his tenure . The Government of Andhra Pradesh later renamed the Srisailam project to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Sagar in his honour . </P> <P> The Congress governments under Reddy placed emphasis on rural development, agriculture and allied sectors . The shift towards industrialisation remained limited and was largely driven by the central government's investments in large public sector enterprises in the state . Reddy's first term as Chief Minister ended in 1960 after he resigned on being elected President of the Indian National Congress . In 1964, he resigned voluntarily following unfavourable observations made against the Government of Andhra Pradesh by the Supreme Court in the Bus Routes Nationalisation case . </P> <P> Reddy served thrice as President of the Indian National Congress at its Bangalore, Bhavnagar and Patna sessions during 1960 to 1962 . At the Congress session at Goa in 1962, Reddy's speech stating India's determination to end the Chinese occupation of Indian territory and the irrevocable nature of the liberation of Goa was enthusiastically received by attendees . He was thrice member of the Rajya Sabha . From June 1964, Reddy was Union Minister of Steel and Mines in the Lal Bahadur Shastri government . He also served as Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping and Tourism from January 1966 to March 1967 in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet . </P> <P> In the general elections of 1967, Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh . On 17 March 1967, Reddy was elected Speaker of the Fourth Lok Sabha becoming only the third person to be elected Speaker of the house during their inaugural term . To emphasize the independence of the Speaker's office, Reddy resigned from the Congress Party . His term as Speaker was marked by several firsts including the admission of a No - Confidence Motion on the same day as the President's address to a joint session of Parliament, the handing down of a sentence of imprisonment for Contempt of the house and the setting up of the Committee on the Welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes . During his term as Speaker a defamation suit filed against him by an MP resulted in the Supreme Court's ruling that parliamentarians had complete freedom of speech in the House and that the courts had no say in such matters . Reddy described his role as being the' watchman of the Parliament' . He however had several hostile encounters with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the House that proved costly when he became, two years later, the Congress Party's nominee to succeed Zakir Hussain as President . </P>

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