Hyderabad: A successful doctor in the US, philanthropist and now Modi’s richest minister – Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar has made it straight to the central council of ministers as soon as he entered electoral politics in 2024.
On Sunday evening, the 48-year-old Pemmasani took oath along with Modi and 71 others in Delhi’s Rashtrapati Bhavan – his growth accelerated by a spectacular win in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur in the recently-concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The MP from the Telugu Desam Party – which has emerged a key ally of the Narendra Modi government in its third term – defeated YSRCP’s Kilari Venkata Rosaiah by a margin of 3.4 lakh votes.
Pemmasani hit the headlines as one of the richest candidates in these elections. His election affidavit in April showed his family assets at Rs 5,705 crore. While his own net worth was Rs 2,388 crore, his wife Sriratna Koneru Rs 2,324 crore, that of his son and daughter were valued at Rs 496 crore each.
Pemmasani’s agrarian family, from the Kamma caste, is from Burripalem village near Tenali in Guntur district. His father, a TDP leader, moved to Narasaraopet town where he ran a hotel business.
The MP, who studied in a government school in Telugu medium, came 27th in the Andhra Pradesh medical entrance (EAMCET) exam in 1993-94. After getting the MBBS degree from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Pemmasani went to the US where he completed his post-graduation studies from Geisinger Medical Centre, Pennsylvania.
The Pemmasani couple are major shareholders in various companies, including Go4Funding, Pemmasani Huffman Investments, Pemmasani Interests, Aspen Publishing. He is the founder and CEO of UWorld, an online learning platform, as per reports. His family owns bonds and shares worth Rs 5,550 crore in 101 public listed companies in the US.
Having made a fortune in the US, Pemmasani was also involved in charity activities through the Pemmasani Foundation in Dallas. TDP sources said his aid included medical facilities for NRIs lacking insurance to digging borewells, setting up reverse osmosis water supply plants, overheard tanks to mitigate drinking water scarcity in the Palnadu region back home in Andhra. At the same time, Pemmasani worked for the TDP in the US.
The MP had wanted a TDP ticket from Narasaraopet since 2014, sources said, and finally succeeded 10 years later.
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Bhupathiraju from BJP
While Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Pemmasani became NDA ministers Sunday under the TDP quota, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma entered Modi’s council representing the Andhra BJP.
From the Kshatriya community, Bhupathiraju won from Narsapuram in the Godavari belt with a majority of 2.7 lakh votes over YSRCP candidate Guduri Umabala.
Going in an alliance with the TDP and Jana Sena Party, the BJP contested in six segments and won three, Rajahmundry and Anakapalli being the other two.
Except Bhupathiraju – the AP BJP secretary with a RSS background – all other candidates including Rajahmundry winner and state unit chief Daggubati Purandeswari are imports into the saffron party.
Bhupathiraju, who is into shrimp farming-trading, real estate and construction businesses, was associated with the BJP for over three decades. A BJP national council member earlier, the MP had contested from Narsapuram in 2009 when the party had gone alone in polls.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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