Visakhapatnam, Feb 21 Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pamula Pushpa Sreevani gave birth to a baby girl at a hospital here to become the first deputy chief minister in the country to have a child while in office.
The 34-year-old Sreevani, who holds the tribal welfare portfolio in Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Cabinet, was greeted by the chief minister, her ministerial colleagues and leaders of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
This is the first child for Sreevani, one of the youngest deputy CMs in the country, and her husband Sathrucharla Parikshith Raju.
When YSRCP came to power in 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy picked Sreevani as one of the five deputies. She is the youngest minister in Jagan cabinet.
The tribal leader represents Kurupam (ST) constituency in Vizianagaram district for a second consecutive term. In 2019 election, she defeated her nearest rival Narasimha Priya Thatraj of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) by over 26,000 votes.
Belonging to Doramamidi village of Buttayagudem mandal in West Godavari district, she was a teacher by profession before taking a plunge into politics. After marriage with Sathrucharla Parikshith Raju in 2014, she shifted to Vizianagaram district.
The marriage was held a few days before Sreevani contested 2014 election. She was 26 when she was first elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Kurupam.
Sreevani had earlier hit the headlines for working in in a Telugu movie to highlight the importance of natural farming. She played the role of a teacher in the movie titled 'Amrutha Bhoomi'.
She had also posted her selfie video on TikTok for a song praising Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Sreevani herself posed for the video with the Telugu song 'Rayalaseema muddubidda mana Jagan Anna' in the background. The song had gone viral on social media.
This song was made by Jagan after he became the chief minister in 2019, hailing him as the son of Rayalaseema, a region he hails from.
Though Sreevani belongs to north coastal Andhra, she posted her video with the song, praising him for development of Rayalaseema.
The TikTok video was posted amid a row over Jagan's three-capital proposal, which angered farmers in the present capital Amaravati.
Jagan has mooted Visakhapatnam (in north coastal Andhra) as administrative capital and Kurnool (in Rayalaseema) as judicial capital.
( With inputs from IANS )
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