Son of a lorry driver, now Mayor of  Warangal

Warangal: The journey of the newly-elected Mayor of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) to the top post in the civic body has all the ingredients of a Cinderella fable.

Son of a lorry driver, who lives in Shiva Nagar in Warangal city, Nannapuneni Narender has come a long way to become the first citizen of Greater Warangal. From working in a wine shop before turning to business and eventually hobnobbing with politics, Narender’s political odyssey has been a
roller-coaster ride.

Though 44-year-old Narender had to face stiff competition from the likes of senior advocate Vaddiraj Ganesh, Gunda Prakash and Koraboina Sambaiah, at the end of the day it was his hard work and loyalty that compelled the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leadership to choose him as the right person to lead the GWMC, which has no civic body for the last six years.

Since Narender made way for Konda Surekha, who had then just joined the party, to contest the Warangal East Assembly constituency in the 2014 elections, he was considered to be the candidate for the Mayor post. The way Narender toed the party line in that election had attracted party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and was reportedly assured of the Mayor post.

Profusely thanking Chandrasekhar Rao, he told The Hans India, “I am proud to say that my father Narsimha Murthy was a lorry driver. My father and mother Kanthamma raised us comfortably. But when my father died in a road accident in 1993, I realised that the mantle was on me to look after the family. I worked in a wine shop.

I had to look after the families of both my brothers due to their ill-health. Narender, who is a commerce graduate, made a mark in politics when he was elected as an independent director of the Kalpalatha Cooperative Super Bazaar in 1993. Later, he joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1995 and worked in different capacities before he was elected as the 16th division corporator of the municipality in 2005.

He was the TDP city vice-president when he joined the TRS in 2009. Since 2014, he held the post of TRS urban president. It was a pleasant surprise for the 39-year-old graduate Khaja Sirajuddin, who got elected from 41st Division. He has been with the party since 2001 and worked as the secretary of party’s urban wing.

His father Shamshuddin was a government employee and mother Murshida Begum is a homemaker. Sirajuddin, who hails from neighbouring Punnel village under Wardhannapet mandal, thanked Chandrashekar Rao, Deputy Chief Minister Md Mahmood Ali and Warangal West MLA D Vinay Bhaskar for bestowing the big honour of Deputy Mayor.