NETA NATTER | REVANTH ANNA’S HUMOUR ON POINT

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy appears to love rib-ticklers these days, aiming them with aplomb at his Cabinet colleagues. The other day, at the Rythu Panduga in Mahbubnagar district, his comments left many chuckling. First it was irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s turn to get a good-natured poke. Uttam is this district’s son-in-law, the CM said as Uttam’s wife, Kodad MLA Padmavathi Reddy, hails from a village near Jadcherla. The bottom line? Because of his “special status” Uttam owes the district and should ensure irrigation for 20 lakh acres in Mahbubnagar. That is the dowry Uttam owes, the CM went, prompting chuckles and guffaws. Deputy CM and finance minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was next with the CM recalling the local connections of Bhatti’s elder brothers, Mallu Anantha Ramulu and Mallu Ravi, with the district. Bhatti holding the state purse strings could sign some blank cheques for the district, the CM went. Then came the turn of health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha, the in-charge minister for Mahbubnagar, with Revanth going “Damodar anna signs without reading! That way, we can sneak in higher amounts for our district easily.”

BABUS BET BIG ON PRESENT GOVT

A good time to call it a day… sort of. This is now the case with senior IAS officer Burra Venkatesham who sought voluntary retirement from service (VRS) to take up the job of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TGPSC) chairperson. Burra is not the first to seek VRS and head the commission, since the TGPSC post is a much coveted one. It was B. Janardhan Reddy who quit his IAS job in a similar fashion during the BRS regime and joined the commission in May 2021. But, for Janardhan, his dream job — six years at TGPSC’s helm, or until reaching the age of 62 — was cut short to just two-and-a-half years with the Congress sweeping to power on December 7, 2023. Forced to resign within five days of the political shift, his abrupt exit on December 11 sent shockwaves through bureaucratic circles. Now, the word doing the rounds is that with four years of regular service left, Burra with a penchant for taking calculated risks, has placed his bets on staying on for six years in his new position, a win-win situation for him, making him one more among officials betting their careers in a high-stakes game of strategy, resilience, and luck, and hope that they can weather future political storms.

ADILABAD REPS GO MISSING

Leaders who are reluctant to lead are the current flavour in erstwhile Adilabad district with folks looking askance and their elected representatives, present and past, missing in action. While leaders from the ruling party are staying away fearing “accountability”, those from the Opposition parties too are missing from action on the field worried that they would be taken to task for their failed policies that led to the current situation. This became clear at the recent protest against an ethanol plant in Dilawarpur village with neither side putting in an appearance and finally, people’s power making it felt. Just for good measure, the protestors were also holding up placards with pictures of the MLA and two others declaring them missing.

FARMERS VS MINISTER IN KONASEEMA

AP’s labour minister Vasamsetty Subhash appears to be harvesting trouble after courting some serious controversy after issuing legal notices to women agriculture labourers in Ramachandrapuram of Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district recently. The women say all they did was to harvest paddy from a field and were not aware of a dispute on its ownership. The land belonged to a brother and sister and was bought by another person who allegedly had Vasamsetty’s blessings. When the dispute initially reached the local police station, the women workers were made a party to the case. When the women alleged they were being made scapegoats in a case in which a minister was involved, Subhash was apparently cut to the quick and served legal notices to all his critics in the case, including the women farm labourers who are now hugely worried and anguished that they are up against their state minister.

ALLU ARJUN IN PUSHPA SOUP

Heroes on the big screen can suddenly become zeroes in real life. The latest to become an example of this phenomenon appears to be Allu Arjun, whose film ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’s first screening resulted in the death of a woman who went to watch the movie at the same theatre that he decided to go to and made a grand entry setting, off a stampede by his crazed fans carrying aerosol can torches among other paraphernalia. With the woman dying in the stampede and her son nearly getting killed at the same time, Telangana minister for cinematography Komatireddy Venkat Reddy questioning Allu Arjun’s choice of going to the hall — the situation resulted in serious questions about the desperate thirst for adulation among movie stars who other than a handful of hits in their entire career, have nothing much to show far.

KISHAN TO BE KICKED UP?

There is a joke doing the rounds in the BJP in Telangana these days. Nothing new but a repurposed old one and the butt of the joke is party state president G. Kishan Reddy. The man, known to work hard to ensure he makes no enemies, did not want this post of state chief. But when he was given the job, he got stuck with it. With no signs of a new president on the horizon, and amidst rumours that when a new one comes, Kishan could well be given the job of the BJP national president, some in the party are apparently tickled at this prospect, getting a new chance to have a jibe at Kishan. A senior party leader the other day narrated the now famous anecdote about visiting US journalists in Bihar saying the state can be turned into the US as it had potential. Lalu Prasad Yadav, hearing about this, retorted that he could turn the US into a Bihar in no time. If Kishan goes to Delhi then he can turn the national BJP into Telangana BJP which is struggling on many fronts, this particular BJP leader said.

FORMER SPEAKER JUMPS FROM FIRE TO FRYING PAN

Once a man who wielded enormous power, former Speaker in the BRS government and Banswada MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy is now struggling to cope with life after power. After joining the Congress following the BRS’ drubbing, he is facing stiff opposition in the now-ruling party with former MLA and Banswada constituency Congress in-charge Enugu Ravinder Reddy raising his voice against Pocharam alleging autocratic attitude. Party leaders from lower rungs too are reported to be upset at Pocharam’s attitude and all of this apparently has now come to a stage where the former Speaker, according to the grapevine, is believed to be considering returning to the BRS.

TD MLA FINDS HIMSELF NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

Neither here, nor there. Not a very good place to be in, especially in politics. And so finding himself in such a situation is Satyavedu MLA Koneti Adimulam who is now in a limbo after getting caught in political crossfire. Cleared of sexual harassment allegations by the courts — after the complainant herself withdrew her claims — Adimulam remains suspended by the Telugu Desam. Despite multiple meetings with TD chief and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh — who reportedly assured him of lifting the suspension “soon” — the promise remains unfulfilled.