Hyderabad: With the Congress scoring a scrumptious victory in the Telangana Legislative Assembly polls, the TPCC chief fulfilled an eight-year-old oath he had taken in 2015 as a TD MLA. The 54-year-old firebrand leader had taken an oath saying, “My only aim in life is to dethrone KCR,” which he fulfilled on Sunday as the TPCC president.
The 2015 episode came in the aftermath of his arrest and subsequent release on bail in July 2015 in a vote-buying case.
Coming from a non-political family engaged in agriculture, Revanth Reddy completed his Bachelor in Arts from AV College in Hyderabad, during which he was associated with the Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
After trying his hand in real estate and other businesses, he began his political career with the then TRS in 2001-02. But, he quit the party in 2006, claiming he was sidelined.
He contested the ZPTC polls in 2006 as an independent candidate, winning in the Midjil mandal of Mahbubnagar. He went on to win the MLC elections as an independent candidate from Mahbubnagar in 2007 and subsequently, joined the Telugu Desam the same year.
Revanth Reddy was first elected MLA from Kodangal in 2009 and retained the seat in 2014. After quitting TD for the Congress in 2017, he lost to the BRS in Kondangal in 2018. Within six months, he was elected MP from Malkajgiri in May 2019.
Revanth Reddy is married to the late Congress veteran leader S. Jaipal Reddy’s niece Geeta, with whom he has a daughter, Nymisha. He became a grandfather in April 2023, when his daughter had a boy.
Revanth Reddy was the only TPCC leader to have toured the state extensively, campaigning not only for himself but the party in general and other candidates, between October 16 and November 28.
Heli-hopping across constituencies, Revanth Reddy covered four constituencies per day towards the end of his campaign, while other senior leaders confined themselves to their respective segments. He worked for the party despite contesting in two seats, Kamareddy being the second seat where he took on Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
In all, Revanth Redd took part in 87 election rallies as the TPCC chief and steered Congress to a historic victory for the first time in Telangana state.
With the win, he joins the echelons of Congress leaders including M. Satayanarayana Rao and D. Srinivas, who are credited with bringing the Congress to power in erstwhile undivided AP in 2004 and 2009, respectively.
