NETA NATTER | Revanth Makes Dec. 9 Bigger and Bigger

For Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, December 9 is no ordinary date - it is fast turning into Telangana's symbolic calendar marker. The date, etched in statehood history as the one in 2009 when the Congress-led government under UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi initiated the process of carving out Telangana, continues to dominate Revanth's political script. After he assumed office in December 2023, Revanth marked his first December 9 by unveiling the Telangana Talli statue inside the Secretariat premises in 2024. This year, the Chief Minister chose the same date to release the ambitious Telangana Rising 2047 vision document. The list doesn't end there. Revanth has lined up grand launches of his dream projects - Bharat Future City and the Musi rejuvenation initiative - on the same date. Stretching his December 9 calendar even further, he has pledged to complete the long-pending SLBC tunnel works and dedicate them to the people on December 9, 2027. Clearly, in Revanth's governance diary, December 9 is booked solid - at least till 2027.

BRS Nearly Dropped Maganti's Wife For JH Poll

High drama for Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll began in the Bharata Rashtra Samithi even before picking Maganti Sunitha, wife of the MLA Gopinath who passed away recently, as its candidate. Preceding this was some intrigue within the BRS. According to a little birdie, the party was initially in favour of fielding Puvvada Ajay, former minister from Khammam, keeping Sunitha on tenterhooks. Sensing the internal conflict within the BRS, the Central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party made quick moves to woo Sunitha into its fold. At one stage, the BJP informed Sunitha that Daggubati Purandeshwari, its MP and former AP BJP president, would meet her to discuss the modalities. The Congress leadership on the other hand was ready to accommodate Sunitha if she was denied the BRS ticket and sources said her close relatives preferred the Congress to the BJP in case she had to switch over. The curtains on this were, however, suddenly brought down with the intervention of BRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao who, on learning of the efforts to bring in Ajay, immediately summoned KTR and asked him to declare Sunitha's candidature.

Disgruntled Defectors Now Flavour Of The Season

Patting ruffled feathers back into place is not always an easy task, as ministers in the Congress government are finding out first hand. And this job of soothing the tempers of a bunch of former BRS leaders who joined the Congress is falling on the ministers on their visits to the erstwhile Adilabad district. These leaders, including some former MLAs and a former minister, are experiencing a feeling of neglect, murmuring that they have been forgotten by the party they joined, which has not given them posts or responsibilities. So, of late, ministers visiting the region have taken it upon themselves, as was the case recently with the in-charge minister for the former larger district of Adilabad, Jupally Krishna Rao. The tourism minister was seen taking these disgruntled leaders along on his visit and the word doing the rounds is that with elections to local bodies expected to be held sometime in the near future, none in the party can stay disappointed, or at least, not be seen visibly to be so.For Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, December 9 is no ordinary date - it is fast turning into Telangana's symbolic calendar marker. The date, etched in statehood history as the one in 2009 when the Congress-led government under UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi initiated the process of carving out Telangana, continues to dominate Revanth's political script. After he assumed office in December 2023, Revanth marked his first December 9 by unveiling the Telangana Talli statue inside the Secretariat premises in 2024. This year, the Chief Minister chose the same date to release the ambitious Telangana Rising 2047 vision document. The list doesn't end there. Revanth has lined up grand launches of his dream projects - Bharat Future City and the Musi rejuvenation initiative - on the same date. Stretching his December 9 calendar even further, he has pledged to complete the long-pending SLBC tunnel works and dedicate them to the people on December 9, 2027. Clearly, in Revanth's governance diary, December 9 is booked solid - at least till 2027.

Pocharam Faces The 'What If' Question

Former Speaker and MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy from Banswada constituency, that straddles Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts, is getting some attention all over again in the two districts, thanks to the disqualification case he is facing on account of leaving the BRS after being elected on that party's ticket and joining the Congress. The question doing the rounds on Pocharam, who won on the BRS ticket in the 2023 elections, is a big what if? What if he is disqualified? Will he contest again, and if he does, will he win in a bypoll in a constituency that has voters comprising many from Andhra who made Banswada their home, as is also the case with Maharashtrians and Kannadigas who also call Banswada their home. While the former Speaker has been mostly silent on the controversy he is in, his supporters point out that he is a local but, with the BRS expected to get very vocal in the event of a bypoll, none appears certain which way the political winds will blow when the time comes.

'Sleeping Stranger' Inside Srinivasa Varma

When a stranger comes calling, it is best to be wary of what might happen. That was the clear and unequivocal recent message from Union minister of state and Narsapuram MP B. Srinivasa Varma, who is apparently fed up with sniping from alliance partners who want to take credit for initiatives that were his. "A stranger is hiding inside me. Don't wake up the stranger. If you wake me up, the stranger will come out. I won't spare such leaders,'' was Varma's warning. Though no names were taken, Varma's ire was reportedly directed at one of the MLAs in his Lok Sabha constituency who wrote to the Railway Board for a train from Narsapuram, something Varma claims is his idea and initiative. And as he chugged on on the topic, it became clear that despite the public face of the political alliance, some of their ties at the ground level are slowly going off the rails.

On PM Modi's Birthday, A Special Gift

Birthdays are special days. And when it is that of the Prime Minister, it is even more so for some. On September 17, PM Modi's birthday, the MP from Vizianagaram, Kalisetty Appalanaidu, who received a bit of a special praise from PM Modi during a meeting in New Delhi with Modi giving him a warm pat on his shoulder and acknowledging his consistent attendance in Parliament and ending the exchange with a "God bless you", decided to do something special, and spent the night in Ebubaruvu, a tribal hamlet in Ramabhadrapuram mandal. This 'Palle Nidra' is in admiration of Modi, the MP declared, and announced a welfare initiative: Families with more than two children will receive financial aid of Rs 50,000, along with a cow and a calf. That, for the tribals, was a night well spent by an MP in their hamlet.

Bhumana's Son Crying Before Beating Raises Eyebrows

Preemptive strikes are not a bad choice when needed but the one by Bhumana Abhinay, son of former TTD chairman and YSRC senior leader Bhumana Karunakar Reddy that the TD government is preparing the grounds to arrest his father, have come as a surprise for many. Abhinay's acting out that illegal cases were being prepared against his father over alleged scams in TTD engineering works is being seen as nothing more than a figment of his active imagination, as is his assertion that the planned arrest is designed to silence Bhumana Sr from exposing lapses in TTD affairs. While the government has not taken any visible action so far on this front, junior Bhumana's sounding of alarm over his father has left many wondering if his tolling the bell points to an eventuality that Karunakar Reddy may not be able to escape from.

AP Legislators' Ire Rises Over Royal Ignore

Politicians and bureaucrats not seeing eye to eye is not uncommon. After all, the elected folk want what they want, always of course for the people who elected them, and officials can't easily say yes to everything that is sought from them as there are rules to follow. One of the easier barometers to follow on this count is matters related to protocol. But clearly, things are appearing to be breaking down in AP with 20 legislators accusing several district collectors of not following protocol, ignoring inviting them to official events. That this not only hurts their dignity but also just how seriously people take them. Taking a big bunch of complaints to the Chief Secretary recently was AP Legislative Council Chairman Koyye Moshenu Raju, pointing out that breach of privilege complaints were beginning to pile up and it was time that the collectors and others were reined in. After all, it doesn't look good for a MLA or an MLC to be seen as being snubbed by an official and voters drawing their own conclusions from such actions.

Contributions from Pillalamarri Srinivas, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Avinash P. Subramanyam, Vadrevu Srinivas, Sampat G. Samritan, Aruna, Narender Pulloor