Patlolla Sabitha Indra Reddy (born 5 May 1963) is an Indian politician who has been the Minister for Education of

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

state since 2019. Reddy started her political career with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

and in 2009 became the first woman

Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minis ...

of Andhra Pradesh, serving until 2014. Earlier, she served as the Minister of Mines and Geology of Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. Reddy was elected as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

of Andhra Pradesh three times, two times from Chevella assembly constituency in 2000 and 2004 and once from Maheshwaram constituency in 2009. Since 2018, she has represented Maheshwaram constituency in the

Telangana Legislative Assembly The Telangana Legislative Assembly or Telangana Śāsana Sabha is the lower house of the Telangana Legislature. The Legislative Assembly of Telangana currently consists of 119 elected members and 1 nominated member from the Anglo-Indian commu ...

and joined Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2019.

Early life

Sabitha Indra Reddy was born on 5 May 1963 in Medak to Mahipal Reddy and Venkatamma. She completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree. She was married to

P. Indra Reddy Patlolla Indra Reddy (1954–2000) was a four-term member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, former Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh state and founder of Jai Telangana Party. Born on 4 October 1954 at Kowkuntla village in Chevella Mandal ...

(died 2000), and the couple has 3 sons.

Political career

Sabitha held the position of Mines and Geology Minister in the earlier government. She was the first female Home Minister of a state in the nation. She is an undefeated four time MLA. She was elected twice from Chevella and twice from Maheshwaram after delimitation. In 2011,

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governme ...

arrested V. D. Rajagopal and Y. Srilakshmi, as third and fourth accused respectively in the investigation into

illegal mining Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the cas ...

by Obulapuram Mining Company. The permission for mining in Anantapur was for captive mining, i.e. the ore mined in that region is to be used in the local steel plant and not to be exported. Srilakshmi is accused of dropping the term "captive mining" in the final order approving a mining license to Obulapuram. The CBI defended the Home minister saying there was no justification for the official to blame the Minister. As of April 2013, Sabitha Indra Reddy submitted her resignation letter from the Cabinet after the CBI named her as an accused in the Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy illegal investments case.

2000 by-elections

She was pushed into politics through this election as her husband had passed away. In this election, she contested on a Congress ticket from Chevella MLA constituency against KLR who is an industrialist and politician. In this election, through her husband's name, the sympathy of his death and her commitment to work for the people she won the election with a whopping 29,909 votes majority.

2004 general elections

This election, she showed her hard-working nature to her constituents. In this election, she beat the TDP candidate by bettering her previous margin from Chevella. This time she won with a majority of 41,585 votes. Consequently, YSR inculcated her into the Cabinet as Minister of Mines and Geology.

2009 general elections

This election happened just after the constituency delimitation. As a result of this, her bastion Chevella constituency was changed to be an SC-reserved constituency. This resulted in her changing her constituency to the newly formed

Maheshwaram (Assembly constituency) Maheshwaram Assembly constituency is a constituency of Telangana Legislative Assembly, India. It is one of 14 constituencies in Ranga Reddy district. It is part of Chevella Lok Sabha constituency. It is also one of the 24 constituencies of Grea ...

. Though she moved few days prior to the election to the new constituency, she beat the local stalwart

Teegala Krishna Reddy Teegala Krishna Reddy (born 10 June 1949) is an Indian politician, a former Member of Legislative Assembly and a former Mayor of Hyderabad, from Telangana state. He is currently in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi Bharat Rashtra Samithi ( ; B ...

by a margin of 8000 votes. Thus, she became the first female Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh and a first female home minister to any state in India.

2014 general elections

2018 general elections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Sabitha Politicians from Hyderabad, India Telangana politicians Women in Telangana politics Telugu politicians Living people 1963 births Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Home Ministers of Andhra Pradesh Telangana Rashtra Samithi politicians Telangana MLAs 2018–2023 21st-century Indian women politicians