Kishan swears to strengthen BJP

Hyderabad: Secunderabad MP G Kishan Reddy, who took oath as a minister of state in the Union Cabinet on Thursday, vowed to strengthen the party in Telangana. He thanked BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing trust in him and the people who elected him from the Secunderabad constituency.

Coming from a middle-class farmer's family in Ranga Reddy district, Gangapuram Kishan Reddy had started his political career in 1977 as a youth wing leader in JP's Janata Party.

Later, he had joined the BJP formed from the Jan Sangh in 1980, choosing politics as his full-time career.

Starting from being the convener of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha of Ranga Reddy district in 1980, he had grown within the party's youth wing to become the BJYM's national vice-president, national general secretary by 1994.

In 2001, Kishan Reddy became treasurer of the state BJP in the erstwhile United Andhra Pradesh. However, he remained connected with the BJYM and served it as its national president for a little over 10 years.

The first break in his political career had come in May 2004 when he was elected MLA from Himayatnagar Assembly constituency and he acted as party's floor leader in the Assembly till June 2011.

He was elected thrice to the Assembly from Amberpet constituency. However, he lost in the 2014 Assembly polls to his nearest TRS rival with a margin of around 1000 votes, only to bounce back as BJP Member of Parliament to represents the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.