An Apsara In Politics

Congress appoints a transgender in a top position in its women’s wing, a first in India.

- G.C. Shekhar

EVEN in her original avatar as a man, Apsara Reddy never fought shy of her sexual identity. As Ajay Reddy and the features editor of a Chennai-based English daily she would use the women’s washroom. “She had no compunction in disclosing that she was a woman trapped in a man’s body and was yearning to break free. And she informed everyone openly before going to Bangkok for her sex change operation,” recalls a colleague. On returning as Apsara Reddy, she switched to politics and joined the Tam il Nadu BJP before migrating to the AIADMK. The Congress though gave her the much-needed political recognition when Rahul Gandhi appointed her as the all-India general secretary of the Mahila Congress—the first time a transgender has held a national position of a major political party.