Months before Telangana went to polls, Congress leader A Revanth Reddy was detained by the police in Hyderabad while protesting with his party’s workers against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. It was not the first time that he was arrested by the Telangana police. An emotional Revanth Reddy once said that he would never forget the fact that he was in jail when his daughter was getting married. On December 3, after early leads predicted a win for the Congress in the state, Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar and other senior police officials were seen handing a bouquet and shaking hands with Revanth Reddy. Many termed it as a sweet revenge.
Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy, who won from Kodangal, became the new chief minister of the state. He is the first Congress Chief Minister of Telangana, after the party staged a stupendous victory in assembly elections by winning 64 seats, upstaging the BRS.
Revanth Reddy’s Early Career
Throughout Revanth Reddy’s two-decade political journey, he has shifted loyalties a couple of times. He began his career by joining BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). In 2007, he moved to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), becoming a legislator in 2009 with a TDP ticket in undivided Andhra Pradesh and again in 2014 in Telangana.
Reddy was appointed as Telangana Congress chief in July 2021, despite staunch opposition from members in the party against Reddy’s RSS background. But Reddy had the support of the party’s office-bearers, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) vice-presidents and former ministers.
He took to the streets almost immediately, interacting with civil society organisations, unemployed youth, farmers and women. He joined many of them in countless protests against the BRS government. It is this image of an approachable leader, who became a local face for people of the state, that led to his rise as a potential chief ministerial candidate.
He led several election rallies and campaigns. Standing side-by-side with central leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Revanth Reddy threw fresh salvos at the BRS government while also reiterating the six ‘guarantees’ of the Congress party. Even before the campaigning for polls began, Reddy would take on the BRS Supremo and as well as the then BJP’s fiery state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on multiple occasions.
For many election observers, the contest wasn’t between BRS and Congress, but between KCR and Revanth Reddy.
KCR has never lost an election in the past 40 years, be it Lok Sabha or Assembly. With the Congress' victory in the state polls last year, and Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy taking oath as the chief minister, KCR has been handed his very first defeat.
