Who Is RK Roja? Actor Turned Politician To Be Andhra Pradesh Cabinet Minister

Minister RK Roja has been making headlines as her name was mentioned in the 14 member list submitted by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandran for his approval. Roja will be among the new faces taking cabinet posts in the state.

The popularity of the actor among the audience is high and many on social media demanded Roja to become the new Home Minister of the state. Roja started out as an actor then did became a screen presenter and eventually joined politics.

As per reports, RK Roja is among the three new women ministers--Vidudala Rajini, Ushashree Charan--in the Andhra Pradesh cabinet who can take up the Home Ministry. The ministry was earlier under Mekathoti Sucharita, the first Dalit woman to become a Home Minister.

Who is RK Roja?

• As per reports, Roja was given the birth name Srilatha when she was born in 1971 in Chittoor district. She went to Sri Padmavathi Women's University, and was brought up in Hyderabad.
• Roja is also trained in Kuchipudi dance form and used to perform before acting. She made her acting debut with film Chembaruthi in 1992. The film was directed by RK Selvamani.
• The actor married Selvamani in 2002 and has two children with him. Roja won a Best Actress award for her 1998 Tamil film titled Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen. 
• She made her political debut in 1998 as a member of Telugu Desam Party. She later stood as a candidate from Nagari constituency in Andhra Pradesh on Congress ticket. Roja has won the Assembly elections as an MLA from Nagari two times on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) ticket.

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• The politician has worked under the congress leader Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy when he was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. She continued to work for his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy when he founded the YSR Congress YSRCP in 2011.
• Roja is often seen giving strict remarks to the opposition party members. She was appointed as the Chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) in 2020. Roja is also the women president of the YSRCP.
• Due to her stint as a judge on a television show, she was also known as the Jabardast judge. With multiple film credits in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam films, the actor also appeared in many television shows.
• After the list of new cabinet ministers was out, Roja posted a heartfelt post on Instagram with her children.