Telangana MPs forged a path to CM seat & power portfolios

Hyderabad: It has been an extraordinary journey — politically — for some of the MPs from Telangana region who have gone on to become chief ministers when Andhra Pradesh was a combined state and of Telangana after it became India’s 29th state in 2014.

If four MPs from the state occupied the CM ‘gaddi’ (chair), Telangana also had two prime ministers who represented the state in Parliament. At least half a dozen leaders were made Union ministers. Former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao had the distinction of representing three Lok Sabha constituencies of Medak, Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar in different elections.

Former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao set the ball rolling way back in 1977. He represented the Hanumakonda Lok Sabha constituency (which is now part of Warangal seat). He first won the seat on a Bharatiya Lok Dal ticket with a margin of 77,683 votes in 1977 and emerged victorious as a Congress (Indira) candidate in 1980 against Congress (U)’s Janardhan Reddy by a huge margin of 1.62 lakh votes. Three-time Congress MP from Hanumakonda, Kamaluddin Ahmed, served as a central minister between 1991-94.

Former PM Indira Gandhi ran for the Medak Lok Sabha seat in 1980 and defeated S Jaipal Reddy, who entered the fray on a Janata Party ticket then, by more than two lakh votes. Chief minister Revanth Reddy is related to Jaipal.

In 2014, KCR contested from Medak and won with four lakh majority against P Sravana Kumar of Congress but he gave up the Lok Sabha seat and retained Gajwel assembly seat. Medak has the credit of sending PM Indira Gandhi to the Lok Sabha and also electing KCR, who went on to become the first CM of India’s youngest state.

If Medak was the fulcrum of seat of power in Telangana state, Khammam also has the unique distinction of electing two CMs of undivided AP, while three former MPs from this seat were made Union ministers. Former CM of united AP Jalagam Vengala Rao of Congress won the seat twice — first in 1984 against CPI’s N Prasad Rao and again in 1989 against CPM’s YRK Murthy. Jalagam served as the CM between 1973-78.

Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, who served as CM of AP for a brief period in 1984 after high political drama, won Khammam seat as a Congress candidate in 1998. Jalagam, PV Rangaiah Naidu and Renuka Chowdhury, all from Congress, became central ministers after getting elected from Khammam.

Another former CM of AP, T Anjaiah (1980-82), was much in news in 1982 when the then Congress general secretary, Rajiv Gandhi, had publicly admonished him which gave power to Telugu ‘atma gouravam’ (self-pride) slogan and spawned the growth of Telugu actor NT Rama Rao’s TDP which went on to win the 1983 assembly polls with a massive mandate. Anjaiah was later elected as an MP from Secunderabad. Anjaiah also served as a Union minister.

Secunderabad too has a great record of its MPs becoming Union ministers. It is now represented by G Kishan Reddy, who has since become a central minister. His predecessor, Dattatreya, not only served as a Union minister but is now governor of Haryana. Another Secunderabad MP, P Shiv Shankar (1979 and 1980 polls), was a very influential minister in Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets.


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