Know Your MLA: Wowing all with morning walks & talks

Hyderabad: They say a real leader is one who spends time among the people. D Sudheer Reddy, who was the youngest Corporator when elected, believes in the notion of ‘a healthy mind resides in a healthy body’. And so, he stays connected with the people of his constituency by personally visiting four to five colonies per day for almost four decades.

This three-hour walk during 4:30 am and 7:30 am has remained his practice since 1986, when he was elected for the first time as Corporator for the then Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH). The leader who believes in continuously being available for the constituents gets to know the grievances of the people from the grassroots level. Residents are informed about his visit beforehand, so they can meet him at specified areas within the identified localities.

His another concept of connecting with the people is ‘Basti Nidra’, a 24-hour long stay with the people of the bastis. According to Sudheer Reddy, this makes the Basti dwellers open up to him, so he can learn first-hand the issues that affect them. “During the 24 hours, I have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the dwellers and listen to their grievances,” says the former chairman of Hyderabad Urban Development Authority.

Given his inclination to remain fit, this sexagenerian with a wish to transform everyone in his constituency from age group of 8 to 80 continues to bat for getting the standard amenities for his constituency’s voters. From developing playgrounds to parks and other infrastructure, he believes that his constituents should remain fit like him despite working for nearly 16 hours a day. “In the wake of Coronavirus crisis, it is important that everyone remains fit. Apart from this I continue to hold job melas to encourage youth to take up some kind of job, as waiting for years together to get a government job may be a futile exercise. In this endeavour, skill development centres have also been developed,” adds the former chairman of Musi Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd.

The former Congress leader who shifted the loyalties to TRS (now BRS) continues to deny the reports that he would be returning back to the Congress fold. He remains hopeful of BRS bouncing back in the near future, while rubbishing the media speculation. Over the complete rout of BRS in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, the LB Nagar MLA believes that the national level politics have polarised the voters between NDA and INDIA blocs. He refers to other instances including parties led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy (AP), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Mayawati (UP) amongst others, who remained independent of the two national alliances and got routed.