Revanth Reddy and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka took oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, respectively on Thursday. The ceremony was held at the LB Stadium in Hyderabad, where several senior leaders of the party including Congress President Malikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi were also present.
Congress emerged victorious in the Telangana Assembly Elections, securing 64 seats in the 119-seat legislative assembly. The party’s win in the state was credited to Telangana Congress Chief Revanth Reddy following which he was chosen as the second Chief Minister of Telangana while Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka assumed office as the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana.
Who Is Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka?
Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, a Dalit leader, who is popular among the masses in Telangana was born in the Snanala Laxmipuram village of Telangana’s Khammam district. Bhatti Vikramarka completed his graduation from Hyderabad’s Nizam College and he completed his post-graduation from the University of Hyderabad.
Bhatti Vikramarka was elected as the Member of Legislative Assembly in 2009 in the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and later assumed office as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Telangana Legislative Assembly.
Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka won from the Madhira constituency, a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections. The Congress leader gained 1,08,970 seats and defeated BRS candidate Kamal Raju Lingala of BRS who polled 73,518.
Bhatti Vikramarka owns more than Rs 8 crores worth of assets, which include Rs 1,91,62,605 in movable properties and Rs 6,21,64,000 in immovable ones. He has three criminal cases pending against him, with 3 counts of being part of an illegal gathering (IPC Section-143), 2 counts of wrongfully restraining someone (IPC Section-341) and 2 counts of committing an offence with a common intention (IPC Section-149).
Bhatti Vikramarka took oath alongside Revanth Reddy who assumed office of Telangana Chief Minister. Several Congress leaders attended the oath-taking ceremony in Telangana on December 7 including AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, K. C. Venugopal, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, among others.