Early life:Kodandaram was born to M. Janardhan Reddy, a farmer from Mancherial in Adilabad district. He did his major part of education in Warangal. After completing his degree from Warangal government college, he joined Osmania University in 1975 to pursue his post-graduation in political science. He completed his M. Phil in political science in 1980 at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Career:M. Kodandaram in 1980 joined Hyderabad Central University as a research scholar. After a few months, he returned to Osmania University to join as a lecturer in political science. He obtained his doctorate from Osmania University in 2003.[3] He worked as a civil liberties activist in the 1980s. Telangana movement:From 1996, he started organising seminars on the Telangana issue and after joining Telangana Vidya Vanthula Vedika, was elected its president in 2003. He is also an activist on Polavaram displacement issues in the Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, India