Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao (born 23 March 1968) is an Indian politician from Telangana state and a member of parliament representing from

Medak Lok Sabha constituency Medak Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 17 Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) constituencies in Telangana state in southern India. Overview Since its inception in 1957 Medak seat is a Congress stronghold, various political outfits li ...

. Previously he served as an MLA for Dubbak Assembly constituency. He is a strong supporter of

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

state ideology. He is a lawyer by profession. He hails from

Medak district Medak district is located in the western region of the Indian state of Telangana. Medak is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Sangareddy, Kamareddy, Siddipet and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts. History Traces of ...

Early life and education

Rao was born at Siddipet to M. Bhagavantha Rao in

Velama Velama are a Hindu caste found mainly in Telangana and AP. The term "Velama" was first recorded for the community in a 17th century inscription. The text "Velugoti Vari Vamsavali" documents the medieval military history of Velama rulers. Orig ...

caste. He earned a B.Sc. degree at Siddipet Degree College, completed a L.L.B. degree at

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a ''firman'' calling f ...

, Hyderabad, a B.Ed. degree from Karnataka University, and a post-graduate diploma in human rights from Central University of Hyderabad. After completing his education, Rao relocated from Siddipet to Patancheru, an industrial area, in 1991 and joined a reputed Telugu daily newspaper

Eenadu ''Eenadu'' (; ) is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper In India predominantly distributed in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Ramoji Rao in 1974 in Visakhapatnam and has been a significant presen ...

as a news contributor for five years. He subsequently, enrolled as an advocate in the bar association of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

Professional career

He started his career as a lawyer. He is well known for handling Hyderabad MP

Asaduddin Owaisi Asaduddin Owaisi (born 13 May 1969) is an Indian politician who is serving as the third and current president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) since 2008. He is a five time Member of Parliament (India), Member of Parliame ...

's bail petition.

Political career

Rao started his political career as a

Telangana Rashtra Samithi The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (; BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in the state of Telangana and currently the primary opposition party in the state. It was founde ...

member. He was with

from 27 April 2001. He is the politburo member and Medak district convenor. On 14 May 2013 he was suspended from the

party on allegations of meeting with

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...

president

N. Chandrababu Naidu Nara Chandrababu Naidu (; born 20 April 1950), commonly known as CBN, is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He holds the record of longest-serving Chief Minister in the political histor ...

which he actively denied. Subsequently, he joined in Congress But resigned to party within few days and joined BJP then contested the Legislative Assembly elections from Dubbak constituency of Telangana state in the year 2014. He is state party secretary and MLA of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. Currently he is

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

Dubbak in 2020 by-poll election by a margin of 1,074 votes, after death of Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy. Raghunandan Rao In 2023 Assembly elections contested from Dubbak Assembly segment and lost to BRS Candidate

Kotha Prabhakar Reddy Kotha Prabhakar Reddy is an Indian politician who won a by-election held in 2014 for the Medak (Lok Sabha constituency) being Bharat Rashtra Samithi candidate. He won by a margin of 3,61,277 votes in the by-poll, which was a shock for the oppos ...

by a margin of 53,513 votes. His Contested in 2024 Lok Sabha polls from

Medak Medak, formerly known as Siddapuram, is a town in Medak district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Medak mandal in Medak revenue division. Etymology and History Medak was originally named ''Met ...

and won with a majority of 39139 votes on his nearest opponent from Congress Party Neelam Madhu.

Allegations

The police said, a 47-year-old woman made a complaint in February 2020 claiming that she was raped in 2007 by advocate M Raghunandan Rao, following which a rape case was filed against him. She claimed the advocate called her to his

Patancheru Patancheruvu is located in the north western end of Hyderabad. It is an industrial zone located about 32 km from the city centre on the Hyderabad-Solapur highway, and around 18 km from HITEC City. Earlier, it was the headquarters of B ...

office in 2007 and offered coffee mixed with some substances and "raped" her when she became unconscious while she filed a harassment case against her husband and maintenance case through Advocate Rao. The police said, the woman claimed in the complaint that the advocate had threatened to post photos taken in compromising positions on

Social networks A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of meth ...

. Rao has called the allegations false.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Raghunandan Bharat Rashtra Samithi politicians Telugu politicians Living people 1968 births Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Telangana Telangana MLAs 2018–2023 India MPs 2024–2029