Neta's Natter

Politicians usually shield their assets when land is acquired or demolitions take place, leaving ordinary citizens to bear the consequences. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, however, chose a different path. In his native Kondareddypalli of Mahbubnagar district, the compound wall of his ancestral home was demolished under a road expansion plan. Refusing to seek special privileges, Revanth instructed officials to apply the rules uniformly, even to his own property. A video of the demolition quickly went viral, giving the ruling Congress fresh ammunition to hit back at the Opposition that has been accusing Revanth of targeting households of the poor in Hyderabad through HYDRAA and for Musi rejuvenation. Congress leaders are now countering that the CM’s example proves his focus is on development, not discrimination. The gesture impressed villagers, who are willingly cooperating with the project, hopeful of better infrastructure ahead.

The finance department in the Secretariat has turned into a fortress, with the second and third floors now under strict police watch. Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s chambers on the second floor have been placed under a security blanket, with scores of policemen deployed and a metal detector installed to restrict visitor entry. Until recently, such restrictions were confined only to the sixth floor housing the Chief Minister’s chambers, while visitors could move freely across the rest of the G+six floors. But Bhatti’s floor now resembles the CM’s, with policemen screening and blocking movement of visitors. Interestingly, in sharp contrast, Scheduled Castes welfare minister Adluri Laxman Kumar on the first floor has kept his office doors wide open, welcoming visitors without police intervention. The fortress-style policing has extended to finance secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania’s chambers on the third floor, where a metal detector is deployed and a strong deployment of police pushes back visitors to clear the way whenever the official moves in or out, leaving Secretariat regulars surprised over the sudden changes.

Even after Goshamahal MLA T. Raja Singh officially parted ways with the BJP, his presence lingers on with him taking upon himself to be the party’s unofficial whistleblower, and not losing an opportunity for some shadowboxing with the leadership, and ready to spill secrets ostensibly on behalf of party workers. The latest in the brouhaha in the BJP over its newly formed state committee got the Raja Singh touch with the legislator declaring that the committee formed by state unit president N. Ramchander Rao look more like a club, with half the members hailing from just one constituency, leaving leaders from the rest of the state like wallflowers, and warning that with the current committee forming government in Telangana will remain a fantasy. If proved wrong, Raja Singh declared he would quit politics altogether, leaving several in the party wondering how long they have to wait for either thing to happen.

None beats Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu when it comes to planning and executing rescue and relief operations during natural calamities and distress situations. When a severe cyclone in 1996 battered the Godavari districts, Naidu who was in office for less than a year not only reached Kakinada much before then collector R. Subrahmanyam, who was held up in Konaseema, but stay put for a week till normalcy was restored. In the aftermath of Cyclone Hudhud in October 2024 which devastated Visakhapatnam, Naidu, who was at the helm of affairs, rushed to the port city and monitored relief operations. Making best use of the relief funds, Naidu also had several beautification works done in the later months. Same was the case last year when the Budameru in Vijayawada was in spate and several colonies were marooned. Apparently taking the baton from the father, his son and IT & education minister Nara Lokesh swung into action when scores of Telugu people were stranded in Nepal, engulfed in Gen Z protests. He put his close confidant and Rajya Sabha member Sana Satish, who enjoys good relations with some top business people in the neighbouring country, and former IAS officer Arja Srikanth as in-charge and he monitored the airlifting operations.

Politicians are no strangers to milking an issue for all it is worth, as can be seen often. But that such approaches don’t always find favour with the people as was demonstrated after a recent incident with local TD leaders in Tekkali bathing in milk, portraits of top leaders, thanking them for upgrading the Tekkali district hospital from a 100-bed to a 200-bed facility. The ‘palabhishekam’ ritual was organised by Bagadi Seshagiri Rao, Tekkali mandal president of the TD, but the action was roundly criticised by locals who said the milk that went down the drains, would have served a more meaningful purpose if it was instead distributed to patients in the hospital.

The adage that nothing can stop a wedding, even floods, when the time for it comes, has turned all real for water resources department officials in East and West Godavari districts. Officials busy with flood relief works in the two districts, have been given an additional task by the bicycle-riding water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu: He has handed them a stack of invitation cards for his daughter’s upcoming wedding for distribution. While officials are wondering if they already did not have enough on their plates dealing with the floods, relief work, and related issues, the task of distribution of wedding cards has apparently come as a dampener, especially since they are meant for distribution to important people, but without any addresses.

Old posts on social media can be like unpaid bills. They never really go away. And can even haunt one like a pesky poltergeist. It was back in 2017 that the then leader of Jana Sena Pawan Kalyan tore into the TD government in Andhra Pradesh for posting senior IAS officer Anil Kumar Singhal as TTD executive officer and castigating it for appointing an officer from North India to the position. For good measure, Pawan Kalyan even raised the question if temples in the North would ever allow southerners to run them. Now, with the very same Singhal back as TTD EO, Pawan Kalyan, the Deputy CM in the Telugu Desam-led coalition government is being reminded with certain unrestrained glee of his past comments by his political rivals in the YSRC, and is being asked if the No. 2 in the state government has anything to say on who gets to become the TTD’s executive officer.