Revanth Reddy: A layout artist's sketch to become Chief Minister comes to life

He was at a crossroads in his life - literally and figuratively. That was in the year 1990.

He kept a layout in front of him. He played with the elements. The design had to make sense. It had to appeal. It had to convey. Anumala Revanth Reddy hailing from the parched land of Mahbubnagar district completed his degree from AV College at Domalguda in Hyderabad and wondered what his career would turn out to be.

If he could design the layout for a Telugu magazine titled “Jagruthi”, surely, his imagination gave him the ability to design a bigger future for himself.

Life wasn’t going to be easy. Opportunities would not fall into his lap. He had to devise a method to design his career path.

Meanwhile, cupid struck. He fell in love with Geetha. She happened to be the niece of S Jaipal Reddy, a senior Congress leader (who is now no more).

The couple felt they were made for each other. Some obstacles had to be surmounted. Some problems had to be solved. Some issues had to be settled. No, the couple in love would not have a ‘runaway marriage’. Both Revanth and Geetha did not run away from finding a solution. It took some time. Their patience paid off.

They could convince their families about their love. Revanth Reddy came from an agricultural background family. Geetha’s family, considering their political stature, had their own standing.

Geetha could eventually convince her family and the couple got married.

Back to the drawing board.

Revanth Reddy who had stopped being a layout artist for the magazine, imagined a different design. He got into the real estate business. He made layouts. This was the perfect design to make a considerable amount of money. It paid off. But money was not everything to the dreamer that he was.

He had designs. Yes, he still had designs but these were in his imagination on the chessboard. He saw himself somewhere on the political ladder. He imagined that someday he would be on the top of the ladder. He reimagined and drafted his career plans.

It was to be politics. He made a beginning. A small one. If he was to take a giant leap, he knew the political layout did not show him the possibility. A political design would have to be drafted, revised, drafted and revised.

Sitting in the legislative assembly as an MLC for which he got elected as an independent candidate without the support of any political party, he knew his baby steps had landed him in a respectable position in public life. That was in 2007.

“I want to become the chief minister of the state,” he told fellow MLC Prof K Nageshwar while sitting in the council hall during a personal conversation with him during the time they both served as MLCs. It was a bold confession.

Revanth Reddy challenged his mind and made it expand its boundaries to imagine what could not be an impossibility.

What were the grounds on which he could dream a dream such as this? What was the reality on which he was building what one could at that time building castles in the air? Every move he made was in a certain direction. Every decision he took was with a motive. Every design was well-carved out with the final image in mind. The path would be tough. The road would be dirty. The way forward would be unclear.

From being in the ABVP as a student leader, Revanth Reddy headed in a direction that was not natural. He chose not to join the BJP but instead got enamored with the Congress. His designs were at work. He wrote Congress slogans on the Gandhi Bhavan compound wall. He carved out a role for himself at the party headquarters - to use his artistic ability to write the slogans. He soon made his way into the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as K Chandrasekhar Rao led the movement for a separate Telangana. What Revanth Reddy was looking for was recognition. However, what he felt was humiliation. Instead of backing his candidature for the local Mandal Praja Parishad election, KCR opted to support another candidate.

The rebel in Revanth Reddy rose. If he had to go it alone, he would. If he had to face the consequences, he would. The lone ranger won. Then as an MLC, again as an independent. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu gave him the TDP ticket and he won from Kodangal assembly constituency twice. Having switched over to Congress, he got elected from Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat.

Revanth Reddy was inching towards his goal but he was not quite there yet. His gift of the gab shook his political rivals. They got disturbed. It caused consternation. Sonia Gandhi smiled. She made him Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president.

This was the one big moment he craved for. The position brought with it enormous responsibility. He had outsmarted veteran Congressmen at the game to be at the helm of affairs.

He’s done it again. With tact. With talent. With whatever wizardry that could be attributed to him, he pulled off a coup.

The layout that lay in front after the election results came out on December 3 with the Congress winning 64 out of the 119 seats, dictated that only someone of his stature could fit exactly into the layout. It was by design, not by default.

There were many rightful claimants to the Chief Minister’s chair but the layout artist, that he originally was, Revanth Reddy, saw to it that everything fell in place naturally for him.

On 7 December 2023, the 54-year-old will take oath as Chief Minister of Telangana.