Defying all the impossibilities in politics, new Chief Minister of Telangana Anumula Revanth Reddy made it to the top post in the youngest State of the country.
Spirited, ambitious and yet sometimes outlandish with his dreams, he has never been in a ruling party in his political career of 17 years and never held an administrative post but he had a burning desire and mighty guts to tread the path he believed would get him to the higher echelons of politics. Dreams can be turned into realities is what he believed in all these years.
Playing with his toddler grandson Riyansh, which means the first rays of the sun, he told this correspondent once that he believed he would be the ray of the Congress hope to run over the BRS government. This was when the mighty K. Chandrashekhar Rao looked invincible and none believed he could be defeated.
To be the Chief Minister was his strong desire much before he came into electoral politics and the one he developed during his stint with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as a student but interestingly, he has never been part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
But yes elections, he was always in the thick of it, and he made his mark first winning in the prestigious Jubilee Hills Cooperative Housing Society as a committee member where the bigwigs of the political, corporate and movie stars live.
He is a firebrand was proved when he won the Zilla Parishad Territorial Council (ZPTC) from Midjil in Mahabubnagar in 2006 as in Independent when the Congress was at its peak in Telangana. He then shocked the then most powerful Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy defeating the official Congress candidate in the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) local body elections to enter the Council as an Independent.
His oratory skills and ability to use the Telangana dialect to connect to the people caught the attention of TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu who invited him to join the TDP. Always willing to take risks, Mr. Reddy turned down Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy’s invitation to join the Congress and accepted TDP’s proposal.
He then contested as MLA from Kodangal in 2009 on the TDP ticket and defeated the five-time Congress MLA Gurunath Reddy. Interestingly, TRS (now BRS) chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao had an alliance with the TDP in 2009 and Mr. Reddy worked for the victory of KCR who contested as the Parliament member from Mahbubnagar.
Mr. Reddy repeated his success in 2014 as TDP candidate and was made the working president of the Telangana TDP after the State split. Realising that TDP has little future in Telangana with Mr. Naidu going to Andhra Pradesh as Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy joined the Congress in 2017 after resigning from the Assembly.
He faced his first defeat in 2018 elections in the strong TRS wave and also amidst the allegations that KCR put all his muscle, money and just to ensure that he did not see his face in the Assembly. But Mr. Reddy bounced back in just four months winning as a Parliament member from Malkajgiri constituency which brought him close to the AICC leadership. In hindsight, he agrees his defeat in the Assembly elections helped him to reach this position.
But to reach this place it wasn’t a smooth journey for the man who comes from a small village Kondareddipalli in the present Wanaparthy district and the old Mahabubnagar district. A first-generation politician, Mr. Reddy was born in an agricultural family on November 8, 1969 and is fourth among seven siblings. His family had a stronghold over the village as they were not only the landlords but also held the powerful ‘Police Patel’ post. He has a sister but always publicly acknowledged Mulugu MLA Dasari Anasuya (Seethakka) as his God-given second sister.
Perhaps the biggest black mark of his career that may haunt him in future as well is the way he was caught by the Anti Corruption Bureau while allegedly trying to buy the vote of nominated MLA Stephenson in favour of the TDP candidate Vem Narender Reddy in the MLC elections in 2015.
He had to spend one month in jail and the most painful time of his life which he always agreed was to get a 12-hour bail to attend his only daughter Nymisha’s marriage. That famous image of him twirling his moustache and signalling to the TV cameras aimed at the then Chief Minister KCR uttering ‘My time will come and I will show my strength’ is fresh in everyone’s imagination.
