G Prasad Kumar, the journey from a farmer to the Assembly Speaker

Rangareddy: After suffering two consecutive defeats in 2014 and 2018, senior politician and staunch Congress leader Gaddam Prasad Kumar managed to retain the Vikarabad seat in December 2023 by defeating the incumbent BRS MLA Dr. Methuku Anand.

Vikarabad, reserved for SC candidates, is one of the seven assembly constituencies in the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, which includes Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally, Tandur, Pargi and Chevella.

Gaddam Prasad Kumar was declared elected from the Vikarabad constituency by a margin of 12,893 votes as he secured a total of 86,885 votes while the incumbent BRS MLA Dr. Methuku Anand got 73,992 votes. With this decisive victory and 49.86 per cent vote share, he managed to avenge his 2018 defeat at the hands of the then BRS candidate Dr. Methuku Anand.

Being a senior politician and former member of the combined Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, G Prasad Kumar served as the Minister for Handlooms and Textiles, Spinning Mills and Small Scale Industries in the cabinet of then Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy in 2012 after being elected for the first time from Vikarabad in 2009.

However, Prasad Kumar suffered two consecutive defeats in the 2014 and 2018 assembly elections to BRS candidates B Sanjiva Rao (2014) and Dr Methuku Anand (2018) before he was again elected from Vikarabad in December 2023.

Hailing from Vikarabad district, 60-year-old Congress leader Gaddam Prasad Kumar grew up in a farmer family and his unwavering attachment to the Congress party helped him reach the coveted post of Speaker of Telangana Legislative Assembly after the Congress leadership proposed his name, leading to his unanimous election.

After the formation of Telangana state, G Prasad Kumar is the third Speaker of Telangana Legislative Assembly after Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy and Sirikonda Madhusudhan Chari.