The new sworn-in Minister of State for Finance Jesudasu Seelam, known as JD Seelam, hit headlines nationally in May 2004 for staging a suicide bid by pouring kerosene in the presence of TV cameras, in front of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence.
He had just lost the second consecutive lok Sabha elections and was sore with the Congress party for ‘neglecting’ him and fielding him from a ‘losing’ constituency since he was a former IAS officer.
Born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Seelam had cracked the IPS too before becoming an IAS. The 1984 batch Karnataka cadre officer was private secretary to Railway Minister CK Jaffer Sharief in the early 90s. By March 1995, however, he had an unceremonious exit from the post.
When the United Front Government came to power, Seelam again became a private secretary, that of Social Welfare Minister Balwant Ramoowalia. He left Civil Service in 1999 and joined the Congress, which fielded him from the Bapatala lok Sabha constituency. He lost that election. He met the same fate in 2004 election too following which he landed in Delhi.
Sources pointed out that he was denied appointment with the Congress president. Out of desperation, he staged a suicide attempt in front of Sonia’s residence, the sources said. As he did so Seelam was seen giving bytes to TV channels blaming the Congress leadership for ignoring the Dalit Christians and quipping on his fate after leaving IAS at the age of 45.
His protest, however, instantly bore fruits. Staffers from 10 Janpath took him inside and Sonia finally heard him. A beaming Seelam emerged from Sonia’s residence thereafter to tell the waiting TV channels that he was happy and satisfied by the assurances offered by the Congress chief.
Within days, he was appointed AICC secretary and was given charge of representing the party in the sittings of Delimitation Commission, constituted for re-aligning the borders of constituencies. The assignment proved lucky for him as this brought him closer to the Congress president. By June 2004, he was elected to Rajya Sabha.
His opponents are still not impressed though. They still hold his suicide attempt a “complete drama”. They allege he landed with a battery of TV channels, basically from Andhra Pradesh to conduct a live suicide attempt.
But the other version has it that Seelam was depressed after losing a lot of money in fighting unsuccessful lok Sabha elections and was hurt by the State Congress leadership rejecting him.