 Reddy authored a book, Without Fear or Favour: Reminiscences and Reflections of a President, published in 1989. The character Mahendranath, Chief Minister of the fictional state of Afrozabad in former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's novel, The Insider, is based on Reddy, portraying his career in Andhra Pradesh and his political rivalry with Kasu Brahmananda Reddy. In 2010, Ramnika Gupta, a CPI (M) trade unionist and politician, accused Reddy of having raped her when she met him at an AICC session to discuss the nationalisation of mines in Dhanbad.
