Etela Rajender (born 20 March 1964) is an Indian politician from

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 3 ...

. He served as the first

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

of Telangana state from 2014 to 2018 and as the

Health Minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

of Telangana from 2019 to 2021. Etela represented Kamalapur Assembly constituency from 2004 to 2010 and Huzurabad assembly constituency since 2010 in the

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Sabha is the lower house of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. The Legislative Assembly consists of 175 members which are elected by adult universal suffrage under the first-p ...

and

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 ...

from the

Telangana Rashtra Samithi 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. It was founded on 27 April 2001 as by K. Chandrashekar Rao, with a sing ...

(TRS) party. In 2021, he 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 Mod ...

(BJP) and was re-elected as an MLA in the by election.

Political career

Etela joined TRS in 2003. He is recognised as a student leader with a left-wing ideology. He was elected as the

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. ...

(MLA) from Kamalapur Assembly constituency in the

2004 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election In the 2004 United Andhra Pradesh Assembly election, the Congress had swept the state, winning 185 of the 294 seats in the Assembly. The Congress' pre-poll alliance partners CPI, CPI(M) and TRS also did well winning 15 and 26 seats respectivel ...

. He defeated the incumbent MLA Muddasani Damodar Reddy. He served as the TRS floor leader in the

. He resigned as the MLA in 2008 and was re-elected as an MLA from the Kamalapur constituency in the 2008 by-election. In 2009, the Kamalapur constituency was merged with Huzurabad Assembly constituency. He contested the

2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The United Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election of 2009 took place in April 2009, concurrently with the 2009 Indian general election. The elections were held in the state in the first phase (2009-04-16) and the second phase (2009-04-23). ...

from Huzurabad constituency and won as the MLA. In 2010 he resigned as the MLA and won the by-election. In 2014, he was appointed the Finance Minister of Telangana in the first K. Chandrashekar Rao ministry, and served until 2018. He contested the

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, ...

and was re-elected as the MLA from Huzurabad constituency. In 2019, he took oath as the Minister of Health for Telangana. As part of the 2018 election's declaration of assets by contestants, he has furnished in assets and was the richest among other ministers. In May 2021, Etela, along with his followers and Jamuna Hatcheries, faced allegations of land encroachments in Achampet and Hakimpet villages in

Medak district Medak district is a district located in the Indian state of Telangana. Medak is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Sangareddy, Kamareddy, Siddipet and Medchal districts. History Traces of Neolithic and Megalithi ...

. His ministerial portfolio was removed and he was subsequently dismissed from the state cabinet. Subsequently on 4 June, he resigned from TRS. On 12 June, he resigned as MLA. On 14 June 2021, Etela joined the BJP in the presence of BJP leaders

Dharmendra Pradhan Dharmendra Pradhan (; born 26 June 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the Government of India. He has also been the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas ...

and

G. Kishan Reddy Gangapuram Kishan Reddy (born 15 June 1960) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region of India. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is an MP rep ...

. He has also resigned as the president of Nampally Exhibition Society, which he held since 2014. He contested the by-election held later that year and won as the MLA.

Member of Legislative Assembly

Personal life

Etela was born on 20 March 1964 into a

Mudiraju The Mudiraju Koli or Mudiraj Koli and Mutrasi Koli, earlier recorded as Mutracha Koli, is a cultivating subcaste of the Koli caste found in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Titles * Mannewad, The Mudiraju Kolis were engaged as village guard un ...

family in Kamalapur, Hanumakonda district of present-day

. He has studied B.Sc. from

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 in 1918 , He released a farma ...

in 1984. He married Jamuna, who owns Jamuna Hatcheries. The couple has two children, a son and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajender, Etela 1964 births Living people Telangana MLAs 2014–2018 Telangana Rashtra Samithi politicians Telugu people People from Medak State cabinet ministers of Telangana Telangana MLAs 2018–2023 Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2009–2014 Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2004–2009 People from Karimnagar district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Telangana Osmania University alumni