Telangana MLC Elections: Warangal's Surabhi Vani Devi, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy steal limelight

Warangal: What else intense drama one would witness than the election to the two Graduates Council seats that was marked with a high decibel campaigning, a massive voter turnout and the painstaking counting, which took four days to decide the winners amid a nerve-wracking tension.

The election to Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Rangareddi-Mahbubnagar Graduates constituencies left many similarities between Surabhi Vani Devi and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, who emerged winners from here on Saturday. Although the duo was settled in Hyderabad, they have their roots in Warangal. And both of them are educationists as well.

Vani is one among eight siblings born to former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao hails from Vangara village under Bheemadevarapally mandal in Warangal Urban district. Married to S Dayakar Rao, Vani settled in Hyderabad and had established several educational institutions including Sri Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts in Hyderabad, and Swami Ramananda Teertha (SRT) cooperative junior and degree college in Mulkanoor, a neighbouring town of Vangara.

Palla, who hails from a humble agricultural backdrop in Sodashapalli village under Velair mandal in Warangal Urban district, is an alumnus of Osmania University. After a brief stint as a teacher, he established several educational institutions in and around Hyderabad, including Anurag University. Later, he emerged as a key leader in the TRS and also known as a close aide of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Currently, Palla is holding the post of Rythu Bandhu State president.

Although there was a speculation initially that Palla was not interested to seek reelection to the Graduates Council seat from Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda, he jumped into the poll fray at the behest of KCR.

Although she was a rookie to the politics, KCR handpicked Vani and fielded her from Hyderabad-Rangareddi-Mahbubnagar constituency. PV Narasimha Rao apart, his two sons – PV Rajeshwar Rao, a former Secunderabad MP, and PV Ranga Rao, former Education Minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, had entered the politics long ago. Vani is the third among his children to make debut in politics.

The duo's election to the Grads Council seats indicates that people have high expectations from both of them as they are well-versed with the prevailing problems in the education sector and unemployment issue.