NETA NATTER | KCR To Set Record As Absentee Member Of Assembly

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s public nudges to his predecessor and BRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao to reclaim his seat in the Legislative Assembly have so far produced what Congress circles call a “seven-minute symbolism.” After weeks of appeals to attend the House and function as Leader of Opposition, KCR made a brief appearance on the opening day of the Winter Session on December 29, only to exit within seven minutes. The fleeting visit, Congress leaders say, was more a courtesy call than a comeback. Their prediction that KCR would skip the rest of the session proved accurate. He stayed away on the second day on January 2, and with the BRS announcing a boycott of the entire session, his return is now improbable. Congress circles point out that KCR has attended the Assembly just twice in the past two years since December 2023 — once during the Budget Session in March 2025 and again last month. At this pace, they quip, the former chief minister seems poised to set an unenviable record for absence until the present Assembly’s term ends in December 2028.

Shifted civic commissioner returns on banner, creates political buzz

Gone, but not quite… A once-union leader close to the powers-that-be when the BRS was in government, but later put out to pasture, is back in the news, or somewhat close to that status. Former Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s zonal commissioner for Kukatpally V. Mamatha suddenly appeared on a GHMC banner on a sanitation drive being used instead of the current zonal chief, creating a buzz within the civic body’s bureaucratic circles. The reason? Mamatha was transferred out of her Kukatpally post two years ago but news of her picture on a GHMC banner instead of that of the incumbent official and images of the banner began making quick rounds within and outside of GHMC online groups. Even as GHMC clarified that Mamatha’s picture on the banner was an error, not everyone bought the story wondering if the official, still said to be close to the BRS, was making moves to get back to being the Kukatpally chief, a post that carries some heft and consequence for some in the BRS, from her present posting in the commissioner and director of municipal administration office.

Leaders make beeline for BRS seats in municipal polls

Down but not out appears to be the case with the BRS which according to party leaders did pretty well in the recent panchayat elections, particularly in the erstwhile undivided Medak district. Now, with municipal elections expected to be held in near future, many aspirants with not so strong prospects of getting the Congress nod are reportedly looking to BRS MLA T. Harish Rao if they can get his blessings, even as those within the BRS are making their moves to be on the frontline of ticket seeking.

Latecomers in Adilabad blame it on chilly winter

Winter woes have hit offices in Adilabad again this year. With temperatures dipping to chilly single digits and sliding down to a cold six degrees Celsius, people prefer to stay bundled up at homes as the grey fog takes its time to lift with the sun struggling to creep through. The chilly weather conditions have become a “genuine excuse” for going late to work, school, college and the like for everyone, be it a government employee or a school kid. Since the weather is something everyone has to deal with, latecomers are not being asked for the reasons. The shivers may be around for some more time but local chai and coffee businesses are doing roaring business with orders pouring in from offices and the like with the hot brews coming in handy to beat the cold, even if for a few minutes.

Money was ‘kingmaker’ in gram panchayat polls

Malkajgiri MP Etala Rajendar left everyone scratching their heads at a cheerful felicitation of recently elected sarpanches and upa sarpanches from Mudiraj community at Ravindra Bharati. Etala made no bones about how winning the gram panchayat polls have become tougher than winning a Lok Sabha election with money playing the kingmaker role and lamented that even dedicated service a candidate cannot stand the buffeting of “cash waves”. This trend has taken root in the villages too, he went on. Then, complimenting the winners, Etala stopped just short of asking them how they did it. Was it a wallet or will power? In the end it did not matter as everyone was happy for the moment, with counting of expenses and returns on investment left for a later date.

Committees ‘government’s game plan’ to procrastinate

Want to kick the decision ball down the road? Then set up a committee. That old solution when no one wants to take the responsibility for a complicated high-stakes political decision appears to continue to thrive if the latest committee with Telangana and AP irrigation officials is anything to go by. At stake is a politically volatile project by AP to divert Godavari water from Polavaram, which has come in handy for the BRS and the Congress to beat each other with. Tribunals have been grappling with the inter-state river water issues for decades, making little progress. The latest battle between Telangana and AP over this particular project is just one more episode in the long-drawn apparently intractable war. What’s new is the question doing the rounds other than the fact that a new committee will now go over the old files. Will the decision in the end go to the political leadership, which cannot see the other side win. What next, is the question. Another committee?

Nirmala cherishes being AP village’s daughter-in-law

PM Lanka. No, this is not about some aspect of international diplomacy but about PedaMainavani Lanka, a small hamlet in Narasapuram mandal of West Godavari district that was back in the news with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman visiting it. Though officially Andhra‘s kodalu (daughter-in-law)’ the minister insisted she remains PM Lanka — her adopted village’s — daughter, a distinction villagers seemed happy to endorse. Sitharaman brushed aside claims of top-down transformation, saying the village’s own ideas and participation had resulted in a great turnaround with a modest building constructed to promote women’s economic empowerment that propelled PM Lanka to second place nationally under the PM Vishwakarma Yojana for skill training. Sitharaman urged women to step confidently into all sectors, reminding her audience that empowerment today is less about slogans and more about skills. PM Lanka, it seems, already got the memo — and adopted its most high-profile daughter along the way.

Jagan, Botsa are ‘worse than Maoists’ for MLA Kala

As political attacks go, this one by former home minister and now Cheepurupalli MLA K. Kala Venkata Rao put former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and opposition leader in Legislative Council Botsa Satyanarayana, in his crosshairs calling them “worse than Maoists”. His reasoning? Maoists have been fighting for principles and ideology and were never against development but the YSRC leaders always resorted to threatening and blackmailing contractors. At the heart of the matter was that Kala was riled over YSRC charges of corruption in construction of medical colleges under a PPP mode, and Kala is convinced that for opposing the government plans, these two YSRC leaders should face treason cases. The last of this brick-batting on construction of buildings has not been heard yet with YSRC expected to not take things lying down.

SPG wants Pawan Kalyan to keep his hardcore fans at bay

Movie stars cannot do without them. Fans. But when they get too close, then it can turn into a problem for the star in question. Such are the woes facing Jana Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan who appeared to have realised that being the focus of unbridled adulation may be fine, but there comes a time when this can become, well, a headache. With his security finding it tough to handle the rush of his fans to meet him at public events, especially at those headlines by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This rush of admirers turning into a problem, Pawan has apparently been informed by PM’s security, the do-not-mess-with-us SPG, that he better keep his fans at bay and AP Deputy CM has now taken to making this public, urging his party cadres and fans to bear security concerns in mind and cut down on the mobbing. On what ears this plea is falling is yet uncertain.

Sribharat, Ganta to checkmate one another

It is no news that politics often resembles a game of chess with politicians planning their moves and countermoves to emerge on top, ahead of others. Apparently, such is the case now with Visakhapatnam MP M. Sribharat, and Bheemili MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao. Both have been at the centre of some speculation over their future moves of swapping positions but Sribharat, at a meeting of MLAs from Vizag Lok Sabha constituency, dismissed all such talk as just rumours. Ganta, on the other hand, revealed that he offered to vacate his seat if Sribharat wished to contest from Bheemili, and then he would seek the MP position, a suggestion that Sribharat rejected declaring that he would rather quit politics than be an MLA. Moves and countermoves apart, it became clear that Ganta’s plans to castle Sribharat in a game of blitz chess for now appear to have been well checkmated.

Generous collector passes on credit to others

In a refreshing departure from bureaucratic tradition, PSR Nellore district collector Himanshu Shukla has done the unthinkable: he publicly credited others for achievements during his tenure. While it is customary for collectors to cut ribbons for projects 80 per cent completed by their predecessors and still claim 100 per cent credit, Shukla chose a different path. He acknowledged former collector O. Anand for successfully steering the long-pending land acquisition for the Greenfield airport at Dagadarthi near Nellore calling it a major achievement. Not stopping there, the collector went on to credit the ‘Champion Farmer’ concept — now a much-talked-about agricultural initiative — not to the administration, but to a journalist who prefers to remain anonymous. Describing ‘Champion Farmer’ as a game-changer that bridges farmers and agricultural scientists, Shukla said the initiative has caught the Chief Minister’s attention and is now being replicated across the state.

‘Will he quit’ taunt haunts minister

Deeds and words have a way of coming back, forcing folks to confront what they did and said in the past. Minister Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy’s current fate is no different as he faces a simple question, whether he will resign or not. This follows his repeated claims that if the Annamayya district headquarters was moved from Rayachoti, his constituency, and then he would step down. And as things turned out, the government did indeed shift the district headquarters from Rayachoti to Madanapalle. And now, Reddy’s video of taking the stand is making furious rounds fuelled by sharing by his detractors watching the minister’s discomfiture with some glee.

Contributions from L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Nabinder Bommala, Balu Pulipaka, Narender Pulloor, Pillalamarri Srinivas, Md Ilyas, K.M.P Patnaik, Vadrevu Srinivas, Aruna, Pathri Rajasekhar. Avinash P. Subramanyam