Apsara Reddy is Cong's first transgender office-bearer

The Congress on Tuesday appointed transgender activist Apsara Reddy as a national general secretary of the Mahila Congress, making her the 134-year-old party's first transgender office-bearer.

Apsara joined the Congress in presence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev.

As a transgender woman, Apsara has been involved in social activism through her college days and later joined the BJP, a party she quit within a month dubbing it as “regressive.”

She later joined the AIADMK in 2016 with the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa appointing her as the spokesperson of the party.

“The Congress is truly a party that built India and sustained us for generations with good policy and a sensitive and inclusive approach in governance,” Apsara said when asked about reasons for joining the grand old party.

Apsara plans to work towards strengthening the Congress at the grassroot level in Tamil Nadu.

“I will meet with a cross-section of women to address issues pertaining to their rights. This coming election, I will campaign vociferously against the fascist BJP dictatorship that drives a coloured agenda which reduces people to what they eat, how they pray and how they love,” she said.