Dharmavarapu Kottam Aruna (born 4 May 1960) is an Indian politician from

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

state. She served as a minister in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

for Information and Public Relations in YS Rajasekhar Reddy's cabinet (2004–2009) and for Small Scale industries, Sugar, Khadi and Village Industries in

Rosaiah Konijeti Rosaiah (4 July 1933 – 4 December 2021) was an Indian politician who served as the 15th chief minister of United Andhra Pradesh from 2009 to 2010. He also served as the Governor of Tamil Nadu from 2011 to 2016 and the Governor of Ka ...

's cabinet (2009–2010). She represented Gadwal constituency as an MLA in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly between 2004–2014 and in

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 communi ...

between 2014 and 2018. Aruna won the 2004 election under

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

but later joined 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 Em ...

. She joined

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

in 2019 and is appointed as its National Vice President in September 2020.

Early life

DK Aruna was born on 4 May 1960 to Ch. Narsi Reddy. She is married to D.K. Bharathsimha Reddy and has three children. Aruna studied science up to Intermediate. She married into a family of politicians and Congress members aged 16. Her father-in-law, D.K. Satya Reddy, her husband D.K. Bharatha Simha Reddy, and her brother-in-law D.K. Samara Simha Reddy have all been involved in politics. Her father

Chitlem Narsi Reddy Chittem Narsi Reddy (also spelled Chitlem or Chittam; died 15 August 2005) was an Indian political leader. He was member of Indian National Congress. He was only member of Janata Dal in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He was elected from M ...

, brothers Chitlem Venkateswar Reddy and Chitlem Ram Mohan Reddy are congress workers and legislators. Her father and brother, Venkateswar were assassinated by

Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

in 2005 while attending the celebrations at Narayanpet. Her entry into public life happened after becoming involved with "grievance redressal" sessions held at the house of her husband's family.

Political career

Losing her first few elections by narrow margins, she was MLA from Gadwal constituency of Mahaboobnagar district for the first time in 2004. In 2004, D.K. Aruna won representing the

and subsequently represented Congress in the 2009 elections. While in the opposition, she participated in the historic Electricity agitation, led a Padayatra from Gadwal to the State capital to highlight the irrigation water problems of the farmers in Mahaboobnagar District and went on an indefinite hunger strike for irrigation water to the dry lands of

. She has also gone on Padayatra from Jamulamma temple in Gadwal mandal to Jogulamba temple in Alampur and later a two-day hunger strike to protest against the State government's refusal to form Gadwal as part of a new district in September 2016 In 2018, Aruna lost

2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held in Telangana on 7 December 2018 to constitute the second Legislative Assembly since the formation of the state in 2014. The incumbent Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Indian National Congress, ...

from Gadwal to her nephew Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy of Telangana Rashtra Samithi. In March 2019, she joined the

and she contested 2019 Lok sabha elections from Mahabubnagar constituency where she lost by 77,829 votes. In September 2020, She was appointed as Vice President of

Political statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aruna, D. K. Women in Telangana politics Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Telangana People from Mahbubnagar district Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2004–2009 Telangana MLAs 2014–2018 Living people 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians State cabinet ministers of Andhra Pradesh 1960 births Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2009–2014