Telangana Neta Natter | Mantri Challenges Leave CM Frowning

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has always maintained one line: if there has to be a debate, let it happen in the Legislative Assembly and in the presence of BRS chief and Leader of the Opposition K. Chandrashekar Rao. But some of his ministers seem to have chosen a different stage — and a different script. The result? A political game of ‘you come here, no, you come there’. Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman and Mohd Azharuddin marched to Gun Park, daring BRS leaders to debate allegations over contract awards in their departments. Harish Rao accepted the invitation and headed there, only to be stopped by the police. Then came another twist. Minister Jupally Krishna Rao challenged BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao to debate Telangana's alleged Rs 8 lakh crore debt burden at Telangana Bhavan. KTR agreed and waited at the party headquarters. But Jupally shifted the venue to Gun Park. The venue-hopping gave the BRS enough ammunition to claim Congress ministers had blinked after issuing bold challenges. Sources say the Chief Minister was unhappy with the spectacle, reminding his ministers that a challenge should either be honoured or not issued at all, as repeated retreats only hand the Opposition an easy political victory.

Revanth Presses Refresh Button On CMO

The corridors of Telangana's Secretariat are buzzing again. This time, the spotlight is on the changes in the bureaucratic set-up at the Chief Minister's Office. Out went B. Ajith Reddy and K.S. Sreenivasa Raju. In walked N. Sridhar, making an unexpected entry into Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy's inner circle. The grapevine has its own script. Officials say the Chief Minister had grown dissatisfied with the working style and recent performance of Ajith Reddy and Sreenivasa Raju. Ajith Reddy, an Indian Defence Estates Service officer, was handpicked in December 2023 and remained in the CMO for two-and-a-half years. Sreenivasa Raju, a retired IAS officer, appointed principal secretary in May 2025 for a two-year term, exited after just one year. The reshuffle also carried a political subtext. After the exits of IAS officer Sangeetha Satyanarayana and IPS officer Shahnawaz Qasim from the CMO in April 2025, the induction of Sridhar, brings in a Telangana local into the CMO.

Name-calling takes a filmy twist

Telangana politics is looking more like a Tollywood blockbuster than a political battle. Top leaders are borrowing famous movie villains to target each other. The drama began when Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy compared BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao to Pashupathi, villain from the hit film ‘Arundhati’. Revanth said that just as Jejamma trapped Pashupathi forever in the movie, the people of Telangana had politically locked KCR inside his farmhouse. He even remarked that KCR had little chance of making a political comeback. The BRS was quick to return the favour. BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao compared Revanth to Ballala Deva, the villain from Baahubali. KTR predicted that Revanth would meet the same end as Ballala Deva after the 2028 Assembly elections, when the people would defeat him. For now, political leaders seem to be competing not just in elections, but also in picking the most dramatic Tollywood villain to paint their their rivals with.

Harish edges KTR in ‘high drama’ stakes

Being the first among equals is a hard conundrum to crack. But giving it their best on this front, nevertheless, appear to be BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao, the current cousins-in-arms leading BRS battle against the Congress government. Rarely a day passes by with either of them not holding party meetings on the SIR process, nor using the opportunity to take some potshots at the Congress government. The latest brouhaha over challenges and counter challenges on state debt and tenders for school supplies yet again brought to the fore the roles being played by the two leaders. While KTR, along with Harish Rao, waited for minister Jupally Krishna Rao for an expected showdown on state debt at the BRS office, Harish Rao setting off for a face-off with three other ministers at Gun Park on school supplies, was stymied by the cops. This took the focus for much of day away from KTR to Harish Rao, leaving many wondering who of these two leaders has learnt to play his cards better than the other.

Brahmanandam gives GST meet a Genial Smiling Twist

Trust a comedian to relieve some stress, even when the subject is as weighty as the GST. On a phone call he received from the GST department, renowned actor Brahmanandam said he was taken aback, and wondered if he had defaulted on any taxes, and waited with dread for the message. Delivered in a gruff voice, the statement led to some amusement from the audience at the GST Day function last week. The former Telugu teacher and Padma Shri awardee said that his anxiety was gone once it turned out that he was being invited to the event as the ‘guest of honour’. But he also revealed that there was some anxiety as he was neither an expert on GST, nor a charismatic hero, but consented his presence with a lot of questions in mind. “Amidst these experts what can a comedian like me do other than making the audience laugh,” he said. As he continued speaking mimicking the voices of leaders and politicians, Brahmanandam said he was acting like them, only to show that he was pretending that he understood what GST was all about. Then came the punchline: “The podium helps. Standing behind it, the shaking of the legs in fear cannot be seen,” he said as the audience broke into laughter.

 Is it all ‘wedded bliss’ in the BJP?

Telangana BJP’s latest state office bearers meeting, held on the final day of national president Nitin Nabin’s three-day tour, had its share of politics — and punch lines. Party state president N. Ramchander Rao, during a chat with media persons after completing one year in office, was asked why some senior leaders, including an MP, stayed away from the meeting. Brushing aside chatter about absenteeism, Rao, in a sharp oneliner, said “yeh miyan-biwi ka sawaal nahi hai, shaadi nahin hai card den ke liye,” shutting down any attempt by the media at fishing for factional trouble. His message was simple: party leaders need no special knock on the door, they should show up on their own after hearing about the meeting through the media or other channels. With that, Rao appears to have silenced speculation about trouble in the party, while also sending out a clear signal that the party wanted discipline, not drama.

Gutha gets a feel of the bumpy ‘road’

Dealing with VIPs is never an easy task for officials, especially when it comes to following protocol, a somewhat of a favourite topic of many leaders who feel they have been left out of the limelight. Similar was the situation during the recent visit to Nalgonda by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. Pointing out that he was left out of the invitation cards published by the roads & buildings department was Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy, and it took nearly two hours for the officials to persuade him to attend the meeting. Murmurs were heard whether the previous differences between Sukender Reddy and R&B minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on sanctioning of roads, an issue that went up to the legislature secretary who in turn issued a notice to the then district Collector Ila Tripathi, had anything to do with what happened. Protocol related protests also came from MLCs Shanker Naik and Nellikanti Sathyam, but these were handled a bit more easily. One who did not care about protocol or invites was district Congress president Punna kailash, who attended the meeting declaring that “the event is like Sri Seetharama Kalyanam” which didn’t require any invitation.

Contributions from L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Md Nizamuddin, Neeraj Kumar, Balu Pulipaka, P. Srinivas