Eight years ago, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief and soon-to-be Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy vowed that his “only agenda in life” was to “dethrone” BRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao, also referred to as KCR, and make “his (KCR’s) family irrelevant in politics”. He had just been released on bail after spending time in Cherlapally Central Jail in Hyderabad.
True to his vow, the Congress on Sunday, December 3, scripted a stunning victory in Telangana, bagging 64 Assembly seats out of the 119, nine years after the state was formed by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
Revanth was elected from the Kodangal Assembly seat in Vikarabad district, and is slated to take oath as chief minister in Hyderabad on Thursday. Revanth, 56, is the second CM of India’s youngest state after KCR, who held the office from June 2, 2014, to December 3, 2023. However, he lost from the Kamareddy seat, where KCR lost too, and the seat went to BJP candidate Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy, who won by a margin of over 6,000 votes.
Born on November 8, 1969, in Kondareddypally village in Nagarkurnool district, Revanth, briefly associated with BRS (then TRS), was first elected to a political office in 2006 when he succeeded in a Zilla Parishad election. He was elected as a Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member, then as an independent.
Interestingly, Revanth has not been a Congressman. Starting his political sojourn with the students’ union of the BJP, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), he moved to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and became a confidante of party chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Revanth Reddy was elected to the Legislative Assembly on a TDP ticket in 2009 and later in 2014 when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
In 2015, he was caught in a bribery scandal, where he was allegedly caught on camera trying to bribe a nominated MLA to vote in favor of the TDP in a legislative council election. He was sent to jail in Hyderabad but was released on bail.
He quit the TDP in October 2017 and joined the Congress the same year. In the 2018 Assembly elections, Revanth Reddy had lost Kodangal seat to the BRS and remained in political wilderness for a while.
However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he contested and won the Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency.
In 2021, the Congress party appointed him as the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief. He played a spirited role as PCC president in the battle against the BRS, led by former Chief Minister KCR, who enjoys a larger-than-life image. His choice as TPCC chief despite being junior in the Congress led to discontent among many seniors in the state Congress unit.
Revanth Reddy’s total assets stood at Rs 30 crore, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Telangana Election Watch, which analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the candidates in this election.
He has multiple cases against him, including 34 charges related to criminal intimidation, statements conducing to public mischief, one charge related to outraging woman’s modesty, cheating, forgery, outraging religious feelings, among others.