T.G Venkatesh

T.G Venkatesh is a Member of Parliament(MP) of Rajya Sabha for Andhra Pradesh. He was born on 16-May-1950 to T.G Gopal Setty and Gowramma in Madanapalli, Chittoor district.

He graduated with a B.Com degree from Sri Venkateswara University in Adoni. He married T. G. Swarajya Lakshmi Kumari on 22-February-1973.

The couple has two daughters and a son named T.G. Bharath who had contested as an MLA in Assembly constituency elections 2019 and lost to Abdul Hafeez Khan of YSRCP.

Business career:

After having successfully started a caustic soda factory called Sree Ralayaseem Alkalies and Allied Chemicals, Venkatesh diversified into manufacturing high-strength calcium hypochlorite, power projects, wind power, manufacturing animal vaccines, large-scale salt-producing units, movie theatres, and star hotels, spread over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

He was for some time the Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Trading Corporation.

Political Career:

He started his political journey with the Telugu Desam Party(TDP). In the 1999 State Assembly elections, he successfully contested in the Kurnool Assembly constituency as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate against V. Rambhupal Chowdhury of the Indian National Congress.

From 1999-2004, in AP legislative elections he was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly(MLA) by defeating V.Rambhupal Chowdary of the Congress party.

In the 2004 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections, he stood in the same constituency on behalf of the same party, second only to M. Abdul Ghafoor of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He joined the Indian National Congress later that year. As the party’s candidate, he defeated Gafoor in the 2009 elections and elected as Member of Legislative Assembly(MLA) in 2009 from the Kurnool Constituency.

Venkatesh gave his support to the Telugu Desam Party in March 2014, objecting to the partition of Andhra Pradesh to form a separate state of Telangana. In recent times, Telugu Desam has joined the party in the same way that many politicians have followed.

In 2013, He was appointed as Minister for Minor Irrigation during the government headed by Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy.

In 2014, he again stood as the Telugu Desam Party candidate in Kurnool, second only to SV Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress party. He has been a TDP member in the Rajya Sabha representing Andhra Pradesh since June 2016.

When he was the Minor Irrigation Minister in the Andhra Pradesh state government in 2013, Venkatesh promised to support the Arya Vaishya community in Andhra Pradesh. He pointed out that they had lost their way politically and needed to increase their trade potential.

In September 2017, Venkatesh suggested that Kancha Ailayya be hanged as a traitor. He was of the opinion that the book “Social Smugglers-Komatos” written by Ailayya should be banned as it incited religious and caste-based hatred.

In 2012, he faced controversy by suggesting the firing of non-working members of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Some thought it was motivated by murder. He later said that it was a speech and that IAS officers would withdraw it if they accepted their incompetence.

He Lost the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections of the Telugu Desam Party, in 2019. He joined the Bharatiya Janatha Party(BJP). He was elected as Member of Parliament(MP) to the Rajya Sabha in 2019. He fought for the rights of Rayalaseema and formed the Rayalaseema Rights Forum.

During his tenure, he changed three political parties. He started his political career with the TDP and later joined the Indian National Congress and later returned to the Telugu Desam Party, joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha on behalf of the BJP.