WHO IS TELANGANA’S NEW AND FIRST DALIT DEPUTY CM MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA? – WHO IS TELANGANA’S NEW AND FIRST DALIT DEPUTY CM MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA? PI NEWS WHO IS TELANGANA’S NEW AND FIRST DALIT DEPUTY CM MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA? – WHO IS TELANGANA’S NEW AND FIRST DALIT DEPUTY CM MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA?

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka also took oath as Deputy CM along with Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and other ministers on Thursday. He is the first Dalit Deputy CM of Telangana. Bhatti Vikramarka (63), a four-time MLA from Madhira Assembly in Khammam district, is known as the leader who breathed new life into the Congress in the state.

He is said to be one such leader who revived the almost extinct Congress in Telangana due to his wisdom, hard work and determination. At one time, BRS even wrested away the post of Leader of Opposition from the Congress MPs.

After this he worked hard again and the result is visible. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s yatra or ‘People’s March’ also gets a lot of credit for the success of the Congress in the state. He was also the leader of the Congress Legislative Party.

An Indian Express report explains how Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka played a major role in the Congress victory in Telangana. The ups and downs of his political life were also told in this report.

This Indian Express report says that Congress leaders have credited former legislature party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s ‘People’s March’, which covered a distance of 1,400 km across 36 constituencies, for boosting the party’s prospects in the elections.

Telangana’s new deputy CM and speaker-designate Gaddam Prasad Kumar Revanth Reddy are the two Mala faces in the cabinet, while C Damodar Rajanarasimha is the only Madiga face. Both Malas and Madigas are among the Scheduled Castes (SC), which form about 18% of the population of Telangana.

Vikramark, leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the previous assembly, was one of the most prominent faces of the party in this election.

Vikramarka started his election campaign several months before the assembly elections and much earlier than his party colleagues. Building on the success of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, he launched his own nationwide “People’s March” between March and June, covering 1,400 kilometers and 36 assembly constituencies.

Now, along with other factors, his march is considered as one of the major reasons for the revival of the Congress in the state.

His road to get here was not easy

The Indian Express report says that his path to becoming the Deputy CM of Telangana was not easy. His political journey was full of ups and downs. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, Bhatti Vikramarka was a member of the executive committee of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) from 1990 to 1992, and was elected as an MLC in 2007.

He won his first assembly election from Madhira two years later. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly till 2014.

The year 2018 was the most challenging for Vikramark. However, he retained his seat in the assembly elections held this year and became the Leader of the Opposition (LOP), being the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.

The following year, their problems increased when 12 out of 19 Congressmen joined hands with Bharat Rashtra Samiti or BRS. BRS or the then CM KCR gave him a major political defeat and took away the post of Leader of Opposition from him.

It was an embarrassment in Telangana for the country’s oldest party, the Congress. When Huzurnagar MLA N Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Nalgonda, he was left as the leader of only the five-member Congress legislature party.

It was difficult for him as he also had to deal with the turmoil in the Telangana Congress, where infighting between rival factions was rampant.

But he didn’t give up. Considered one of the greatest Dalit leaders of the state, Bhatti Vikramarka came back into limelight through his padayatra. In the summer of 2023 itself, Vikramark not only prepared the environment for the Congress for the assembly elections but was also successful in projecting himself as a prominent leader in the state.

Then in a conversation with Indian Express he said that it is very hot during the day but I have to do one thing and that is to meet as many people as possible. We have promised to make Telangana KCR free and neither the scorching sun nor rain can dampen our enthusiasm.

He encouraged the Congress cadre in Telangana

The Indian Express report says that after losing the status of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly in 2019, Vikramarka’s influence in Madhira has also started to wane as Kamal Raju Lingala of BRS has started gaining ground.

Bhatti Vikramarka’s stature increased in Telangana when many of his proposals were accepted in the Congress manifesto. These were suggestions he made public during his travels. His proposals were also accepted to formulate the party’s manifesto on farmers, youth and minorities.

Many Congress party leaders credit his visit for highlighting the failures of the BRS government and making people aware of the Congress’ election promises.

During his journey, Vikramark addressed many rallies and street meetings. He met people from all walks of life. These included tribals, Dalits, minorities, depressed classes, farmers, unemployed youth, coal miners in Singareni, students, artisans and weavers.

He also visited the Sripada Shoutampalli project in Mancherial and raised the issue of damaged crops due to unseasonal rains in Ramagundam, Dharmapuri, Huzurabad, Husnabad and Wardhanapet constituencies.

This report from Indian Express says that Vikramarka’s visit has energized the Congress cadre in Telangana and boosted the party’s electoral prospects. His close, personal interaction with the people was praised by several senior Congress leaders, including the party’s Telangana leader Manik Rao Thackeray, who said it would pave the way for the Congress’ victory in the state.

Courtesy : Pro IQRA

Note: This news piece was originally published in proiqra.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Righ