Telangana Assembly gets first woman Deputy Speaker

Medak MLA M Padma Devender Reddy was unanimously elected as the Deputy Speaker of Telangana State Legislative Assembly here on Thursday.

As soon as the House met on Thursday at 10 AM, Speaker S Madhusudana Chary announced the election of Padma Devender Reddy on the post of Deputy Speaker. Since only one nomination was received for the post, she has been elected unopposed.

Following Speaker's announcement, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Deputy CM Dr T Rajaiah, Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao, Congress MLAs K Jana Reddy and J Geetha Reddy, TDP floor leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao, MIM MLA Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri, BJP floor leader Dr K Lakshman and other legislators of different parties escorted Padma Devender Reddy to the Chair.

KCR welcomed the unanimous election of Padma Devender Reddy for the Deputy Speaker's post and said that her election proved the commitment of TRS Government for the empowerment of women. Leaders of other political parties too welcomed the election and congratulated the Deputy Speaker.

Born on January 6, 1969, in Karimnagar, Padma Devender Reddy is a Law graduate. She had served as the Zilla Parishad president from Ramayampet. She got elected to the Assembly from Ramayampet constituency in 2004. However, the TRS denied her ticket in 2009 elections forcing her to contest as a rebel and lost. She was also suspended from the TRS. She re-joined the TRS in 2010 and won from Medak seat in 2014 general elections. She defeated former actress and TRS rebel MP Vijaya Shanti who contested as Congress candidate.