Hyderabad: Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao, 52, who dealt a rare defeat to the TRS in the Dubbak byelection on Tuesday, has a more interesting background than many politicians.
He started his career as a news contributor to a vernacular daily but rose to be in the politburo of the Telangana Rashtra Sabha and also represented MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi in court.
In 2001, Raghunandan Rao ventured into politics by joining the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which had just been formed. He took active part in the Telangana statehood movement under the leadership of TRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao and was selected to the TRS politburo.
Raghunandan Rao was suspended from the TRS on allegations of meeting Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu in May 2013. He joined the BJP and contested the Assembly elections from Dubbak in 2014 and 2018 as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Medak.
Raghunandan Rao born in March 1968 in the erstwhile Medak district and did his BSc from Siddipet Degree College. He later completed his LLB from Osmania University and began practicing law.
Interestingly, Raghunandan Rao in 2013, when he was TRS Medak district president, moved the district Principal and Sessions Court seeking bail for Owaisi. This move of Rao at that time was significant as the TRS has been strongly opposing the MIM for its stand against Telangana statehood.
The bail was in a case pending against Asaduddin Owaisi, his brother Asaduddin and 20 others for their alleged involvement in obstructing the collector and other officers who were allegedly demolishing a mosque at Muttangi. Raghunandan Rao succeeded in getting bail for the MIM chief. The case later ended in acquittal.
