Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is an Indian 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 ...

. Gadwal Vijayalakshmi joined

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

in the presence of Chief Minister

Revanth Reddy Anumula Revanth Reddy (born 8 November 1969) is an Indian politician from Telangana. He is the Member of parliament (MP) in the 17th Lok Sabha, from the Indian National Congress representing the Malkajgiri constituency. He was a two-time Membe ...

and AICC in-charge

Deepa Dasmunsi Deepa Dasmunsi is an Indian politician. She served as the member of parliament for Raiganj in the 15th Lok Sabha. She was the Minister of State for Urban Development from October 2012 until May 2014. She was the wife of Indian National Congress ...

on 30 March 2024.

Early life

Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is born to a 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

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 ...

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 at Holy Mary School, Hyderabad and Junior College at Reddy Women's College, Hyderabad, Bachelor's 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 a 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 ...

, United States 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 f ...

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 was elected as the first woman Mayor after the formation of Telangana state in 2014.

Controversies

Stray dog attack incident

On February 19, 2023, a tragic incident occurred in Hyderabad when a 4-year-old boy was fatally attacked by three

stray dogs A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of w ...

on a deserted street, with graphic footage circulating on social media. The boy was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival. In response to the incident, as the mayor, Vijayalakshmi held a press conference on February 21, confirming that the dogs involved had previously been sterilized as part of the GHMC's animal birth control program. She suggested that the dogs might have become aggressive due to hunger, as a regular feeder in the area had been absent for two days. Vijayalakshmi emphasized the importance of dog adoption and announced plans to put up 600 dogs for adoption each month. However, her comments faced backlash, particularly from the

party, which demanded her resignation and an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 50 lakh to the victim's family. Additionally, filmmaker

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

criticized the mayor for her response and expressed frustration with the GHMC's handling of the situation. The controversy continued to escalate, with Varma's comments gaining attention on social media. On March 7, Vijayalakshmi offered a Rs. 9.7 lakh ex-gratia payment to the grieving family of the young victim and reaffirmed efforts to address the issue of stray dogs through awareness programs and control measures.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayalakshmi, Gadwal Living people 1964 births Politicians from Hyderabad, India Telugu politicians Bharat 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 Former United States citizens Naturalised citizens of India American emigrants to India 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians