Know Your MLA: Crusading for workers’ welfare

Ramagundam: Makkan Singh Raj Thakur, who was close to YS Rajasekhar Reddy, was born in 1972 in Maddirala village of Antargam mandal. He is an MLA from Ramagundam Assembly constituency in Peddapalli district.

He represents Indian National Congress and won the 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election. He secured 92,227 votes and defeated his nearest rival, Korukanti Chandar Patel of Bharat Rashtra Samithi, by a huge margin of 56,794 votes.

After studying in Ramagundam till high school, Singh went to Hyderabad to study, where he attracted the attention of Rajasekhar Reddy, who was well known as a student leader.

He marched with 5,000 farmers to get the water of Ellampalli project to Ramagundam and gained recognition in the constituency. He contested as an MLA three times and despite being defeated, he did not get disappointed and won the fourth time.

Thakur convinced the factory management about making the contract workers permanent employees and giving them their salary. In Ramagundam, an industrial area, he fought for the welfare of the workers of Singareni, NTPC, Basanth Nagar cement factory and made his mark among them.

Makkan Singh Raj Thakur, who was appointed as the chairman of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh during the reign of Rajasekhar Reddy, contributed a lot in the field of sports. During his tenure, tennis players like Sania Mirza and Jwala Gutta gained fame.