Karimnagar: Gangula Kamalakar, born on May 8, 1968, is an Indian politician who once served as the Minister of BC Welfare, Food and Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs in Telangana state. He represents the Karimnagar constituency as an MLA in the Telangana Legislative Assembly from the BRS.
His parents are Mallaiah and Laxmi Narasamma. In 1986, he enrolled at KITS, Ramtek in Maharashtra to study Civil Engineering but did not complete his degree. He is married to Rajitha, and they have a son and a daughter.
Kamalakar began his political career in 2000 when he was elected as a corporator in the Karimnagar Municipality. In 2009, he won as an MLA from Karimnagar constituency on a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket. He joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2013 during the Telangana movement and was re-elected in both 2014 and 2018 from the same constituency.
Karimnagar was traditionally a stronghold of the Velama caste. However, Kamalakar, who comes from the Backward Class (BC) community, managed to get elected for three consecutive terms.
In September 2019, Kamalakar was included in the second Cabinet of K Chandrashekar Rao and was given the portfolio of BC Welfare, Food & Civil Supplies. He is a close aide of minister KT Rama Rao. Despite a Congress wave in the 2023 elections, Kamalakar won with a majority of over 3,000 votes.
During his tenure, he led Karimnagar on a path of development. He provided the town with a cable bridge, an IT Tower, a BC Study Circle, a BSC Agriculture Degree College, a Medical College, and about 14.5 km of road with Rs 160 crore. Kamalakar helped beautify Karimnagar and developed various facilities by securing Rs 350 crore from the CM special fund.
