G Kishan Reddy’s rise from youth leader to PM Modi’s colleague

HYDERABAD: For Prime Minister Narendra Modi to select minister of state (MoS) G Kishan Reddy was an easy task among the four Parliamentarians who got elected from the State in the LS election. Besides being one of the few leaders who have strong roots in RSS and the party from its inception, Kishan Reddy is arguably the only leader who has worked with Modi decades ago, and today, the duo turned colleagues again.

Going down his career trail, in 1994, as a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) general secretary, Narendra Modi and Kishan Reddy travelled to the USA, to participate in American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), an organisation that enables political leaders to be exposed to international affairs. At the age of 30 then, Kishan was active in the BJP leadership at New Delhi.

A native of Timmapur district of Rangareddy district, Kishanreddy has scaled the party ladders to be the BJYM president as well. The BJP stalwarts like Pramodh Mahajan, Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh once helmed the position. Every time a BJP national leader sets foot in the State, Kishan Reddy is one among the few who accompanies them. He is conversant with Narendra Modi every time he is in the State, providing readied inputs on the State’s political mood. Kishan Reddy also worked closely with former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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Kishan also maintained cordial relations with Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari, besides party president Amit Shah. Even after winning as an MP, Kishan Reddy ensured that he visited them all with the other MP-elects to exchange pleasantries.  At the State level, he not just won three consecutive terms as a legislator from Amberpet (earlier Himayathnagar) but also led the BJP State unit. He was also the BJP floor leader in the Assembly of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.