G. Kishan Reddy flashing the victory symbol after winning Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat.
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G.
Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy got a unique opportunity to be sworn into the Central Cabinet for the second successive time in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday evening.
The 63-year-old started as a Minister of State in the Home Ministry and was later elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister, and given the charge of Tourism, Culture and Development of the Northeast Region in the previous government in 2021.
He has led the party to the highest-ever number of MPs elected from the Telugu States of eight and been amply rewarded for his work, having been entrusted with party organisation a year ago post the shock ouster of Bandi Sanjay Kumar as State party chief just before Assembly elections.
A three-time MLA and party floor leader in the united Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Assemblies, Mr. Kishan Reddy has risen from the ranks starting in the youth wing of the Janata Party and later joined the BJP in 1980. Beginning as the convenor of Rangareddy district, he went on to become the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in 2002 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power.
The Minister has also held posts of treasurer, party spokesperson and general secretary in the party. He first unsuccessfully contested the 1999 Assembly elections in united Andhra Pradesh from Karwan constituency. In the next elections in 2004, he was elected from the Himayatnagar constituency when the Congress led by Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy came to power, becoming the lone MLA from the party. He was re-elected from the reconstituted Amberpet constituency in 2009 and worked as the united A.P. State president twice from 2010-14.
Post the formation of Telangana, Mr. Reddy was elected from Amberpet again in 2014. He was the first Telangana party chief from 2014-2016, and worked as a floor leader from 2016-2018. He was elected from the Secunderabad Parliament constituency in 2019, having lost the Assembly elections from Amberpet constituency a few months earlier. Mr. Reddy is married to Kavya Reddy, a homemaker. His teenage children, Vaishnavi and Tanmai, are pursuing higher education.
