 In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections he contested from Hanamkonda in Warangal and won it with the highest percentage of votes in Andhra Pradesh.As a Member of Parliament he played an important role along with TRS party chief K. Chandrashekar Rao in convincing 32 political parties on the issue of Telangana statehood.At the outset there was virtually no national-level support and the movement was dismissed as a ploy by politicians to grab power.