The Rise of Revanth Reddy: Meet the new Telangana chief minister

Telangana was Congress’s silver lining in the recently concluded Assembly elections. The party won 65 seats, wresting power from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The Congress has one man to thank – party chief Anumula Revanth Reddy. And as a reward for his tireless campaign, he gets the chief minister’s post.

Reddy was formally picked as the chief of its Legislature Party on Tuesday, paving the way for him to take up the top job. The oath ceremony will be held on Thursday, senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said at a press conference. The announcement put an end to speculation about who would be the CM of the country’s youngest state.

Congress President Shri @kharge has decided to go with Revanth Reddy as the new CLP of the Telangana Legislative Party. 

The Congress will deliver a clean and able government that will provide maximum governance. 

: Shri @kcvenugopalmp, General Secretary (Organisation) pic.twitter.com/njFUduUFsb

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 5, 2023

Two other names were doing rounds: Dalit leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Uttam Kumar Reddy, a seven-time MLA and former Air Force pilot who was the Congress’ state chief until Reddy took over.

We take a look at the rise of Revanth Reddy and his role in the success of the southern state.

Who is Revanth Reddy?

Anumula Revanth Reddy is the Telangana Congress Chief who led the party’s campaign in the state. Not the one to shy away from challenges, the 54-year-old was up against Chief Minister and BRS boss K Chandrashekar Rao in its stronghold Kamareddy, where he lost to BJP’s Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy. However, that was only a minor setback. In the Kodangal seat, Reddy won with 1,07,429, beating Patnam Narender Reddy of BRS who polled 74,897.

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Reddy has come a long way. He started his political career as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-affiliated student wing and later joined KCR’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has now been named BRS. He quit the TRS in 2006 after he was denied a ticket to contest polls in Andhra Pradesh. Two years later, he became an MLC as an Independent candidate.

Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu saw the articulate and shrewd politician in Reddy. He joined the party and was elected MLA twice from Kodangal in 2009 and 2014.

It was in 2017 that he switched to Congress after he saw TDP’s influence declining once Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. In 2019, he secured a Lok Sabha seat from the Malkajgiri constituency.

In 2020, he was arrested in Hyderabad in connection with the “illegal” use of a drone to take pictures of a building, which he alleged belonged to a state minister and was built in violation of rules, reports The Indian Express.

He was appointed as the chief of the Telangana Congress in July 2021. The shift from the TDP to Congress and his promotion in the party changed the political landscape of the state.

Also read: Congress set to form govt in Telangana: Did anti-incumbency hurt KCR’s BRS?

How Revanth Reddy won Telangana for Congress

Reddy is charismatic in his leadership. His strategic planning seems to have done wonders for Congress – from 19 seats in 2018 to 65 in 2023.

నిన్న, నేడు, రేపు మీరే నా బలం..

తెలంగాణ రక్షణ కై కదిలిన కాంగ్రెస్ దళం.#TelanganaElectionResults #CongressWinningTelangana#ByeByeKCR pic.twitter.com/kcH1jJt87b

— Revanth Reddy (@revanth_anumula) December 3, 2023

The incoming chief minister is a hands-on leader who has a visible presence on the ground. He led protests on several issues against the ruling BRS government, exposing their loopholes. However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Reddy. His way of functioning saw many detractors within Congress, who complained he was “autocratic”. He also reportedly created a rift with senior party leaders such as N Uttam Kumar Reddy, T Jayaprakash Reddy, V Hanumantha Rao, Madhu Yakshi Goud, M Shashidhar Reddy, and J Geetha Reddy, among others.

However, Reddy got complete support from the senior leadership. The prominence of local leaders paid off for the party in Karnataka and the Congress used the same template for Telangana.

Reddy attended big rallies in Telangana and was often seen along the national faces of the party. They put all their faith in him, as he led from the front addressing at least four rallies every day. According to a report in The Indian Express, he established a good equation with the senior leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi.

Reddy was always brimming with confidence. After the exit polls, he said, “Congress is going to get landslide victory this time and the same thing is reflected in the exit polls. We are going to get over 80 seats.”

He has been critical of KCR and his children, KT Rama Rao, K Kavitha, who are also politicians, in speeches and interviews. Taking a jibe at the family, he said that there was no comparison between him and KTR, a Telangana minister. “I am on merit quota. He is on management quota/NRI quota. Everyone knows KTR as KCR’s son. We have nothing to do with KTR. Our political fight is with KCR,” he replied.

How Revanth Reddy was picked for Telangana CM?

As Congress took the lead, Reddy wrote on Sunday on X, “Kudos to the immortals who kept Telangana’s aspirations high in the sky… The time has come to fulfill the aspirations of the immortals and the aspirations of four crore people.”

A day before the counting, he was greeted with chants of “CM, CM”. An update on Reddy’s Wikipedia page erroneously declared him as the new chief minister of Telangana on Sunday itself.

However, Reddy’s elevation to the top post was not a cakewalk. The party is divided and former TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy was also in the race for the CM’s post. Dalit leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka also wanted the top post.

Sources close to the other leaders pointed out that the Congress did not win any assembly seat in Malkajgiri, which Reddy represented in parliament. They also said that he was unsuitable for the position because of the cash-for-votes case against him, reports NDTV. The senior leaders claimed that they should be paid for their loyalty.

But in the end, it was Revanth Reddy who was picked. The final call was Rahul Gandhi’s who said that the “decision had been taken”.

For Reddy, a bigger role awaits.

With inputs from agencies