Meet Revanth Reddy: Formidable Force Behind Congress Rise in Telangana

Hyderabad: Anumula Revanth Reddy, man of the moment who made the Congress rise like a proverbial phoenix in the recent Telangana assembly elections. Under his leadership, the grand old party recorded its maiden victory in the assembly elections since the formation of a new Telugu state. 

During a road show in Hyderabad in July 2015, Reddy had said from now on his sole objective will be to unseat KCR from the power and it took him eight years and two parties to realise it. He is known for his aggressive brand of politics and he was never in the ruling party during his 17-years long political journey. 

Sitting Congress MP from Malkajgiri constituency, Reddy was previously elected twice from Kodangal constituency on a TDP ticket. He successfully contested as a Congress candidate from Kodangal assembly seat in the recent assembly elections. 

A native of Kodangal and a graduate in arts, Revanth Reddy began his political journey as a student activist with the ABVP. A bitter critic of BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, Reddy was also associated with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). He was first elected as a ZPTC member as an independent.
 
He was elected as a MLC in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2007 as an independent candidate. Later, he joined the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and soon became his confidante. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly thrice – two times on a TDP ticket in 2009 and later in 2014 and once from Congress after joining the party in 2017. 

He won the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections on a Congress ticket. Recognising his political acumen and oratory skills, the grand old party appointed him as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president in 2021. This decision did not go down well as many senior leaders in the party expressed their displeasure on his swift elevation to the top organisational post. 
 
The man who took the unenviable task of reviving the fortunes of the Congress despite challenging circumstances has a share of controversies too.  In 2015, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught him while he was allegedly trying to buy the vote of nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to make him vote for the TDP candidate in Legislative Council elections. The incident hit the news headlines as the whole episode was recorded on camera. Consequently, Reddy was sent to jail where he spent more than six months before he was released on bail.

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