Kishan Reddy meets Hyderabad-born Sydney Mayor at Dasara Milan
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
A Hyderabad girl now leads a council in Sydney — and that fact stopped Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy in his tracks at a Dasara celebration in Australia on Sunday, 25 October 2026. Reddy met Smt Sandhya Reddy, Mayor of Strathfield Council, at the Dasara Milan cultural gathering in Sydney, calling the encounter a moment of genuine pride.
Hyderabad to Strathfield: A journey worth celebrating
Born in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, Sandhya Reddy has risen to lead Strathfield Council, a local government body in Sydney's inner-west that is home to one of Australia's most diverse communities. For a minister who also serves as BJP Telangana state president, the encounter carried an unmistakable regional resonance — a daughter of the city at the helm of an Australian civic body.
'A Hyderabad-born daughter leading a council in Australia makes us all proud,' Kishan Reddy wrote, capturing the warmth of the exchange in a single line.
Dasara Milan in Sydney: Diaspora culture on the global stage
The Dasara Milan event brought Sydney's Indian community together to mark the festival season, offering Indian leaders visiting Australia a natural setting for diaspora outreach. Such gatherings have become a recurring feature of Indian ministerial travel abroad — low on protocol, high on community connection. No formal bilateral agenda attached to this meeting; the significance was entirely human.
India's community in Australia numbers in the hundreds of thousands, with Telangana-origin families forming a visible slice of that presence. Moments like these — a minister, a mayor, a festival — quietly reinforce those transnational threads.
For Sandhya Reddy, the recognition from a visiting Union Minister adds to the profile of an achievement that already resonates well beyond Strathfield's council chambers.