Native: Enugal, Parvatagiri Mandal Warangal Boianapalli Vinod Kumar (born 22 July 1959) is an Indian politician and former Member of Parliament, he served as Vice-chairman of Telangana State Planning Board (2019[1]-2023).

Together with Prof. Jayashanker and Prof. Biyyala Janardhan Rao, Kumar was instrumental in presenting a resolution in AP State CPI conference at Warangal for the development and special package to Telangana.

However, through persistent dialogue, parties were brought on-board and eventually letters of support were taken and submitted to the Pranab Mukherjee sub-committee which was set up to examine the statehood demand.

Through his efforts, a power project was set up at Bhupalapally coal belt in Warangal district, in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Rural Electrification Corporation at a total cost of Rs.

A major accident that claimed the lives of 10 people and injured 45 on Independence Day 2005 prompted Kumar to raise and pursue the widening of NH 202.

His persistent intervention in Parliament resulted in widening of the highway as well as construction of a high level bridge over Godavari river near Etunagaram village to cross the border into Bhupalapatnam in Chhattisgarh.

After becoming an MP Kumar raised the issue in 2007 with the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Centre as well as the Archaeological Survey of India.

Vinod took up the issue and tried to get the city included within the eligibility list for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Vinod also held discussions with the then Chief Minister YSR to grant heritage city status to Warangal, owing to its historic identity as the capital of the Kakatiya dynasty.

The demand was not acceded to immediately but was finally considered in 2015 by the NDA Government which granted heritage city status to Warangal under the HRIDAYscheme.

[12] As Member of Parliament, Vinod facilitated the state Department of Tourism's plans to develop Laknavaram lake in Warangal district as a tourist spot.

This resulted in the apex court directing the Central government to appoint a high-level technical committee on Godavari river water sharing.

[16] Vinod also took an active role in fighting cases filed by political leaders from Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court to try and prevent the bifurcation of the state.

In April 2013 the Bayyaram iron ore mines in Khammam and Warangal districts were allocated by a Government Order (GO) to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

[17] This was severely opposed by TRS leaders including Kumar who alleged that this was a continuation of the loot of natural resources from Telangana by Seemandhra rulers.

They demanded that a steel plant be set up in the Telangana region itself so as to provide employment to the locals who were far more deprived than their Seemandhra counterparts.

[18] Vinod actively pursued the issue of non- allocation of additional seats for three prestigious medical colleges—Gandhi, Osmania and Kakatiya—in the Telangana region.

He also raised a point of order in Parliament during the debate, arguing that the ordinance was unconstitutional as it had been issued when the separate Telangana State had already been formed.

The President before issuing the ordinance had not elicited the views of the legislative assemblies of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as was needed for altering boundaries of the two states.

The 146 km Manoharabad-Kothapalli railway line passes through Vemulawada, also known as Dakshina Kashi, which houses the famous Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple.

[26] The line was first proposed by the current Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao when he was the MP for Karimnagar during 2004-09 and was subsequently pursued by Vinod Kumar.

[29] However this has been held up by the Ministry of Home Affairs which has stated that the provisions of the section are subject to article 170 of the Constitution which prevents assembly seat increases from taking place till the year 2026.

Vinod has been pursuing the issue in Parliament and has even asked for the Prime Minister’s intervention, arguing that there is no justification for the inclusion of article 170 in Section 26 and the words ‘notwithstanding’ should have been used instead of ‘subject to’.

He is also currently a member of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) that is examining the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

The points raised by him were as follows: Vinod Kumar represented the TRS party view on the contentious NJAC and wholeheartedly supported the Bill.