Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is an Indian-born politician serving as the current

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, commonly known as the GHMC is the civic body that oversees Hyderabad, the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the local government for the cities of Hyderabad and Secund ...

(GHMC) since 11 February 2021. A former American citizen, she emigrated back to India to join politics and went on to become the fifth woman mayor of Hyderabad and the first post formation of the state of

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 ...

. She is a member of

Bharat 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 singl ...

(BRS) party based in

Early life

Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is born to politician

K. Keshava Rao Kancherla Keshava Rao, popularly known as KK (born 4 June 1939), is an Indian politician from Telangana Rashtra Samithi party. He is a Member of the Parliament of India in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. Rao was first ...

and his wife Vasantha Kumar. Rao is a politician from

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 singl ...

(TRS) party and Member of Parliament who represented

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 ...

in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the upper house of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

. Vijayalakshmi married Bobby Reddy whom she met at

ICRISAT The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several r ...

tennis club.

Education

Vijayalakshmi completed her secondary school from Holy Mary School, Hyderabad and Junior College from Reddy women's college, Hyderabad, Bachelors in Journalism from

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. It was founded on 7 November 1938 by Dr K.M Munshi, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi. The trust programmes through its 119 centres in India, 7 centres abroad and 367 constituent instit ...

and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(LLB) from Sultan-ul-Uloom Law College, Hyderabad. She emigrated to the United States and obtained the US green card in 1988 following which she got married and settled there. Later, she took American citizenship in 1999. While staying in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Gadwal Vijayalakshmi worked at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, cardiology department as research scholar.

Political career

In the year 2004, she emigrated back to India and eventually left her

American citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

in 2009 to join politics. In 2016 she contested as a

corporator A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

from the TRS party and won. In 2020 she contested from

Banjara Hills Banjara Hills is an urban commercial centre and one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This is an upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. This area was a hilly forest and was least inhabited in the past. Only ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

as a

and won. On 11 February 2021, she is elected as the first woman Mayor after the formation of Telangana state in 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayalakshmi, Gadwal Living people 1964 births Politicians from Hyderabad, India Telangana politicians Telugu politicians Telangana Rashtra Samithi politicians Women in Telangana politics Mayors of Hyderabad, India Women mayors of places in Telangana Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan schools alumni Indian emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States American people of Telugu descent Duke University alumni Women in North Carolina politics American politicians of Indian descent Former United States citizens American emigrants to India Naturalised citizens of India 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians