Meet Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, the Deputy Chief Minister and the No 2 in Telangana govt

While Revanth Reddy has been in the spotlight since the Congress seized power from BRS’ K. Chandrasekhar Rao, it is Bhatti who is credited with the resurgence of the Congress in the state.

The Dalit leader embarked on a 1,400 km foot march through 36 constituencies of Telangana last year, a feat hailed as one of the key reasons for the Congress’s electoral success. In the recent elections, Congress secured 64 seats, surpassing the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which managed only 39.

Bhatti emerged victorious from the Madhira constituency, defeating Kamal Raju Lingala of BRS by a significant margin of 35,452 votes, garnering a total of 108,970 votes.

Bhatti, who became a member of the Congress State Working Committee in 1990, is one of the senior leaders of the party in the state. Bhatti has two brothers who are also active in politics. His elder brother had been the Congress President of United Andhra Pradesh. The middle brother has won the Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket.Vikramarka, elected as an MLA for the first time in 2009, later served as the Chief Whip for the Government of Andhra Pradesh from 2009 to 2011 and also held the position of Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2014. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the dissolved Assembly.On January 18, 2019, the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the 2nd Telangana Assembly.Born in Telangana’s Snanala Laxmipuram village, Vikramarka pursued his graduation at Nizam College, Hyderabad, and completed his post-graduation at the University of Hyderabad.

According to Myneta website, Bhatti has a Post Graduate M.A (history) degree from Hyderabad central university. He has no criminal cases in his name and has reported assets of about Rs 4 crore.