Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao (born 12 February 1941) is an Indian politician from Telangana, associated with

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 ...

. He served as

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...

from 2014 to 2019. As a member of the

, he had served as a Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government from 1999. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

in 1998 and 1999 (13th Lok Sabha) from

Karimnagar (Lok Sabha constituency) Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 17 Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) constituencies in Telangana state in southern India. Bandi Sanjay Kumar of Bharatiya Janata Party is currently representing the constituency. Histor ...

Early life

He was born in Nagaram,

Sircilla district Rajanna Sircilla district is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. Sircilla is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Karimnagar, Siddipet, Jagtial, Kamareddy, and Nizamabad districts. Geography The district ...

on 12 February 1941 to C. Srinivasa Rao and Chandramma. He has three brothers. He completed his schooling in Vemulawada, PUC in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

B.Sc. 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 of ...

in Nanded of Maharashtra and later studied law at

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 ...

Legal and political career

As a lawyer and politician

After completion of law, he started working as lawyer. He was elected as convener (Chairman) of Janasangh, Karimnagar in 1972. He went to jail during the emergency period. He represented the

BJP 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 Mo ...

in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from

Metpally Metpally is a town and Revenue Division and third largest town in Jagtial district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located 222 km away from state capital Hyderabad, 67 km from Nizamabad, 80 km from Karimnagar and 33&nbs ...

assembly segment from 1985 to 1998 and entered into the Parliament by winning Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency in 1998 and in 1999. He was also the BJP state president in 1998. His leadership in assembly has lifted party's profile in the state. Shri Rao had been Floor Leader of his party in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for 15 years. He was successful in piloting a private member’s bill in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly that sought stringent punishment for people practicing bigamy. His Padyatra to Ichampalli in the year 1998 as the then BJP president highlighting the need to utilize Godavari waters for the needs of the people of Telangana led the Government to consider the project seriously.

As a minister

He was Union minister of State for Home affairs in the cabinet of Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999. Later, his portfolio was changed to Union Minister of state for Commerce and Industry.

As a governor

He was appointed a governor of Maharashtra on 30 August 2014. His appointment was issued by 13th

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

, Mr.

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

after the resignation of

K. Sankaranarayanan Kateekal Sankaranarayanan (15 October 1932 – 24 April 2022) was the governor of the Indian state of Maharashtra. He had also served as the Governor of Nagaland and Jharkhand. Prior to his appointment as governor, he had served as a minister i ...

. His oath was administered by Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Mohit Shah. On 26 September 2014, he accepted the resignation of

Prithviraj Chavan Prithviraj Chavan () (born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who was the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a state in Western India. Chavan is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and University of Cali ...

as his party had no majority, and President's Rule was imposed on Maharashtra. He held additional charge as governor of Tamil Nadu from 2 September 2016 to 6 October 2017.

Personal life

His wife's name is Vinoda. His elder brothers are C. Rajeshwara Rao, a former Communist leader, C. Hanumantha Rao who was the chancellor of Hyderabad Central University and C. Venkateshwara Rao.

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, C. Vidyasagar India MPs 1998–1999 Telugu people India MPs 1999–2004 People from Karimnagar district 1941 births Living people Union Ministers from United Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Telangana Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Governors of Maharashtra