# Thummala Nageswara Rao

Thummala Nageswara Rao is a Congress politician who has been a minister in the Government of Andhra Pradesh and, later, in the Government of Telangana. In main portfolios he is from the Khammam district.

## Early life

Thummala was born on 15 November 1953 and is from Gollagudem village of Dammapeta Mandal in Khammam District. He completed B.Com before entering in politics.

## Career

He joined TDP in 1982 election but lost the 1983 election.Thummala was elected on three occasions to the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh as a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate from Sathupalli constituency, in 1985, 1994 and 1999.
Though he is actually from Sathupalli, due to changes in reservation of seats in constituencies, he contested the 2009 elections from the Khammam constituency and defeated his opponents Younis Sulthan and Jalagam Venkatrao.
He contested that seat again in the elections of 2014 and lost by a margin of little over 6,000 votes. On that latter occasion, the election was for the Telangana Legislative Assembly due to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
He joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi in September 2014, and was inducted into the cabinet in December 2014 and serving as Minister for Roads and Buildings Department in present TRS Government. He resigned from the BRS and joined the Indian national Congress in September 2023 after he was denied a BRS ticket to fight elections.
Having served for some time as a member of the Telangana Legislative Council, in May 2016 Rao again gained an Assembly seat when he won the Palair constituency in a by-election, winning with a majority of 45,676 votes. On this occasion he was a BRS candidate, and was inducted into the cabinet in December 2014, serving as Minister for Roads and Buildings.
In 2023 Assembly Elections he contested from Khammam and won with a majority of 49381 votes on BRS candidate Puvvada Ajay Kumar. He took oath as minister at L B Stadium in Hyderabad on 7 december 2024 and later he were assigned Agriculture, Marketing, Co-operation, Handlooms and Textiles portfolios on 9 december 2024 in Revanth Reddy Ministry.

## Working With four Chief Ministers

With the opportunity to become a minister, Tummala Nageswara Rao brought funds of crores of rupees to Khammam district and worked for the all-round development of the district. That is, Thummala Nageswara Rao, who was elected MLA five times, served as a minister in many key departments from Khammam district. In the year 1985 from Satthupalli Assembly Constituency. After being elected, Thummala became a member of the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao's cabinet for the first time. Thummala, a farmer's child, was chosen by NTR as the Minister of Small Irrigation. In the year 1995, he was given the post of Minister of Small Irrigation Department for the second time. On August 20, 1996, he served as Minister of Prohibition and Excise in CM Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet. On 5 December 1996, Tummala was promoted as Union Minister of Heavy and Medium Irrigation. Worked as Excise Minister in 1999. In the year 2001, Thummala was appointed as the Minister of Roads and Buildings. From November 15, 2004, he was selected as the president of Telugu Desam Party of Khammam district. Later, Tummala joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on 5 September 2014 and became the Minister of Roads, Buildings and Women and Child Welfare on 16 December 2014. Later, in 2015, Thummala was selected as MLC. Later, in 2016, he won a landslide victory as an MLA from Tummala Paleru with a huge majority and continued as a minister. Tummala Nageswara Rao, who started his political career from the Satthupalli assembly constituency, has gained a special position in the political portrait of the state, and ministerial posts have come and gone in search of him. During his 40-year political reign, he served as a minister in various departments in the cabinets of NT Rama Rao, Chandrababu Naidu and KCR. Having won in 1985, Thummala became the Minister of State for Irrigation for the first time in 1986. After that, the posts of Prohibition and Excise, Heavy Irrigation Department and Roads and Buildings Department were filled in Chandrababu's ministry. After the bifurcation of the state in the year 2014, TRS leader and CM KCR Thumma was specially invited and given the post of Minister of Roads and Buildings in the new state of Telangana. It is noteworthy that Thummala never ran for office in his political career.now in Revanth Reddy cabinet he is R&B minister.

## Developments Achieved by Tummala

Khammam :
| S.No | Name of the Department | No.of Works | Amount in Crores |
| 1 | R&B | 24 | 126.82 |
| | | Outer Ring Road | 209 |
| 2 | PR | 113 | 17 |
| 3 | IRRIGATION | | |
| | | MK I - 19 | 23.00 |
| | | MKII- 14 | 4.00 |
| | | MKIII- 09 | 2.20 |
| | | MTB 01 | 13.50 |
| | | | 42.70 |
| 4 | WATER GRID | | |
| | | R.N.Palem | 88.50 |
| | | Corporation | 114.00 |
| | | INTRA(46) | 32.00 |
| | | | 234.5 |
| 5 | TRANSCO | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | IDC | 2 | 24 |
| 7 | EW IDC | | |
| | | College building | 13.50 |
| | | ST&SC&BC | 6.50 |
| | | | 20 |
| 8 | RVM | 32 | 2.1 |
| 9 | CORPORATION | | |
| | | Completed | 152.00 |
| | | Proposed | 100.00 |
| | | | 252 |
| 10 | NSP | 1 | 24.75 |
| 11 | HMIDC | | |
| | Double Bed Room | 5000 | 26.25 |
| TOTAL | | 5220 | 979.62 |
In 2014 After Tummala Nageswara Rao be coming the minister in TRS government, Rs-initiated the NTR canal works completed the canal works in 2015, inaugurated by Irrigation Minister Harish Rao. From the beginning of the construction of the canal, there were many problems and difficulties at every step. Tummala did not back down. Vemsur with perseverance. With his determination to help the Farmers of vemsur area completed NTR canals work, with this Farmers were benefited permanently. In Vemsur Constituency, the ponds are being filled through this canal. As a result, the farmers of Vemsur are sustaining themselves economically by growing horticultural crops like plam oil farm, cotton, groundnut, rice, maize, guava and lemon.
Bhakta Ramadasu, Sitarama Projects, Modernization of Paleru Old Canal
* Cultivation and drinking water due to the construction of check dams in Paleru
* Development of joint Khammam district with construction of national highways and bridges
Construction of a new palm oil factory at Apparao Peta for this palm oil farmer
* With the construction of Betupalli Varada Canal and NTR Canal, greenness has spread in the drought land.
* Development to change the appearance of Khammam along with modernization of Bakaram pond
* Srikaram to Sundara Bhadradri
* Electric lights with construction of Bhadradri Power Plant
* Paleru Assembly Constituency is first in progress

## Positions held

As a TDP MLA in the Andhra Pradesh legislature, Thummala was Minor Irrigation Minister in the cabinet led by N. T. Rama Rao and held the ministerial portfolios of Prohibition and Excise, Major Irrigation, and Roads and Buildings at various times during the successive governments led by Chandrababu Naidu.
In December 2014, soon after leaving the TDP for the TRS, Thummala became a minister in the TRS cabinet. He took the portfolios of Roads and Buildings, and Women and Child Development.