The Telangana Congress has released its first list of candidates, consisting of 55 members. The list includes 17 Reddy candidates, 12 Velama candidates, 12 OBC candidates, 12 SC candidates, 2 ST candidates, 2 Brahmin candidates, and 3 candidates from the minority community. Mynampally Hanumantha Rao, who recently joined Congress from BRS, received two tickets for himself and his son. Congress EX TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy’s family also received two tickets for the forthcoming elections. Uttam received a ticket for Huzur Nagar, while his wife Padmavati Reddy received a ticket for Kodad. The Congress party ignored the Udaipur declaration, which states that two tickets should not be allowed within a family. Surprisingly Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Thummala Nageshwara Rao who joined in Congress from BRS not get the place in first list. In the latest list, there are prominent State Congress figures, including TPCC President Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka, MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MP Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Ex Deputy CM Damodar Rajanarasimha. Let’s take a look at the profiles of these top Congress leaders in this story
Revanth Reddy
Revanth Reddy’s political journey can be defined as from the ABVP to the Congress. He was a member of the ABVP during his college days. In 2001-2002, he worked under the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party. In 2006, he contested the local body elections as an independent candidate and won as the Midjil ZPTC in Mahabubnagar district. In 2007, he was elected to the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) and later joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). In 2009, he contested as an MLA from the TDP ticket for the first time, representing Kodangal. Although the TDP lost that election, Revanth Reddy won from Kodangal.
Since then, he has become a strong voice for the TDP and quickly rose to become a key leader in the party.
The first election after Telangana state formation was in 2014, when Revanth Reddy won from Kodangal on the TDP ticket. In 2015, Revanth Reddy was arrested and jailed in the Cash for Vote case, which surprisingly made him a hero in the TDP party. Due to this incident, he gained prominence in the party and was later appointed as the TDP working president. Despite the TDP’s stance against the formation of Telangana, Revanth Reddy remained in the party until 2017, when he left due to its declining influence. He then joined the Congress.
In the Congress party, he was given the position of working president and played a crucial role as a star campaigner during the 2018 assembly elections in Telangana. However, he was defeated by Patnam Narender Reddy, the TRS candidate, in the Kodangal constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Revanth Reddy contested from the Malkajgiri parliament constituency on behalf of the Congress party and emerged victorious. Revanth Reddy was appointed as the TPCC president in June 2021, in spite of facing opposition from several senior members, as there was a lack of strong leadership in Telangana’s Congress to effectively confront the TRS. He is currently a top contender for the Chief Minister position from the Congress party and is contesting from the Kodangal constituency.
Uttham Kumar Reddy
Congress members refer to Uttam Kumar Reddy as captain, as he previously worked in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot. However, the party faced a major setback under his leadership during the 2018 assembly elections. Following the Congress party’s poor performance in the GHMC 2020 election, Reddy resigned from his post as TPCC chief. He has previously served as a five-time MLA, twice from Kodad (1999, 2004) and thrice from Huzur Nagar (2009, 2014, 2018), and was a minister in combined states in Kiran Kumar Reddy’s cabinet.
Currently, Reddy is serving as the Nalgonda MP. In the past assembly elections, his wife, Padmavathi Reddy, also secured a ticket but unfortunately lost the election. After Reddy was elected as the Nalgonda Lok Sabha representative, he resigned from the Huzur Nagar assembly, leading to a by-election. In this by-election, Padmavathi contested from Huzur Nagar, but unfortunately faced defeat once again. In the latest list that was announced, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Padmavathi have once again secured their tickets from Huzur Nagar and Kodad, respectively.
Bhatti Vikramarka
Bhatti Vikramarka is currently serving as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader. He has been elected as an MLA three times and has served as an MLC once. In the years 2009, 2014, and 2018, he consecutively won as a Congress MLA from the Madhira constituency. Currently, Bhatti is a strong contender for the Chief Minister position within the Congress party. However, there are two factions within the party. One faction supports Revanth Reddy for the CM post, while the other faction supports Bhatti. He did ‘Peoples March Padayatra’ from March 16th to July 2nd this year. In the public meeting held in Khammam on the occasion of ending the padayatra, leaders like Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Juapally Krishna Rao joined BRS in Congress. In the latest list, Bhatti secured his ticket from the Madhira Assembly constituency.
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, a senior Congress leader from Nalgonda, secured his ticket from the Nalgonda constituency in the latest party candidate list. During his college days, he was involved in NSUI, the student wing of Congress. He has served as a minister in YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s cabinet, and has been elected as an MLA four times. Currently, he represents the Bhongir parliament constituency. Komatireddy had expected to be appointed to the TPCC post, but was disappointed when Revanth Reddy was chosen instead. He made sensational allegations against Revanth Reddy and the TPCC in-charge, Manickam Tagore, claiming that Manickam had received a large sum of money from Revanth for the post. He claims that he is also a potential candidate for chief minister from the Congress party. Recently, he stated that he is one of the top three CM candidates from the Congress party.
Damodara Rajanarasimha
Damodar Rajanarasimha first won as the MLA in 1989 from Andole, Medak district. However, he subsequently lost in later elections and was later re-elected to the assembly in 2004 and 2009. He served as the last deputy chief minister of the combined state. Rajanarasimha faced defeat in both the 2014 and 2018 elections, leading to a decline in his influence within the party. In the past, he also expressed his aspirations to be the frontrunner for the Congress’ CM post. In the latest announced Congress candidate list, he has secured his ticket from Andole.
Though there is discontent in the TPCC cadre because of turncoats from BRS getting tickets, Experts believe Congress will sail through this in their second list. This is a very crucial election for Telangana Congress and TPCC has never been this strong since the inception of the state.
