Former Dy CM of Telangana, 4-time MLA: Who is Dr Rajaiah Thatikonda?

Just when the Lok Sabha polls are round the corner, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) has got a major blow with the resignation of former deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Thatikonda Rajaiah from the party on Saturday.

Former MLA from Station Ghanpur, Rajaiah, has submitted his resignation to the party's leadership, citing a lack of responsiveness.

Who is Dr Rajaiah Thatikonda?

Dr Thatikonda is a medical practitioner and has served as a four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) since 2009 to 2023 for the Station Ghanpur assembly constituency.

Born on March 2, 1960 in a village called Thatikonda near Jangaon, the politician started his political journey with the Indian National Congress (INC) but later in 2011 he joined the then Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party to support the separate Telangana state movement.

After the formation of Telangana in 2014, the 63-year-old leader was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister of Telangana in the first K. Chandrashekar Rao ministry. However, in a year he was removed from the post due to his failure in preventing the spread of swine flu in the state.

In a abrupt turn of events, Thatikonda was denied a ticket in the 2023 state assembly polls.

In August 2023, a video of him surfaced where he was seen bowing down and crying in front of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar.


Senior BRS leader and former Deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari was fielded from the Ghanpur seat replacing Thatikonda Rajaiah.