Villagers of Pothireddypeta in Karimnagar district of Telangana, about 200 km from Hyderabad, feel proud that Cholleti Vinay Reddy, an Indian American, has been appointed as the director of speechwriting of new US President Joe Biden. People in the village recall their association with Vinay Reddy's father Narayana Reddy, who migrated to the US in 1970.

Narayana Reddy, who did his schooling in the village, pursued MBBS in Hyderabad and later migrated to the US.

Vinay Reddy was born and brought up in the US but his family maintained its links with the village. The family still owns three acres of land and a house in Pothireddypeta.

Narayana Reddy and his wife Vijaya Reddy still visit the village and meet relatives and friends. They had last visited the village in February 2020.

Vinay Reddy's grandfather Thirupathi Reddy had served as the village sarpanch (head) for several years. Thatikonda Pullachari, who is now serving as the village sarpanch, said he worked with Thirupathi Reddy in the 1980s.

"It's a matter of pride not just for our family but the entire village that Mr. Vinay Reddy rose to such an important position in the US," said Cholleti Sai Krishna Reddy, a relative of Vinay Reddy, who looks after their family land in the village.

"Vinay Reddy serves as a speechwriter on the Biden-Harris Transition and served as Senior Advisor and Speechwriter for the Biden-Harris Campaign," says Biden-Harris Transition website.

He previously served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Biden in the second term of the Obama-Biden White House, after which, he worked as Vice President of Strategic Communications at the National Basketball Association.

According to the website, during the Obama-Biden Administration, he also served as a senior speechwriter at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, deputy speechwriter for the Obama-Biden re-election campaign, and speechwriter for his home state Senator, Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

Reddy grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the middle of the three sons in an immigrant family and is a product of the Ohio public schools from kindergarten to Miami University to The Ohio State University College of Law. He currently lives in New York with his wife and their two daughters, it reads

(IANS)