HYDERABAD – Top leaders from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), including former ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav and T. Padmarao Goud, have sharply criticized Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s recent comments. Reddy had reportedly questioned BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao’s engagement with Hyderabad’s localities. In response, the BRS leaders turned the tables, asking the Chief Minister about his own whereabouts over the past 23 months.
During a press briefing held on Saturday, the BRS stalwarts asserted that their previous government had invested a substantial ₹44,000 crore into Hyderabad’s development. They contrasted this figure with the Congress government’s alleged expenditure of a mere ₹4,600 crore on the city, even when Telangana was part of a larger state. Srinivas Yadav went as far as to offer to resign from his MLA position if the Chief Minister could prove that ₹4,000 crore had been spent on developing the Secunderabad Cantonment constituency in the last 23 months.
Yadav further suggested that the Cabinet appointment of Mohd. Azharuddin was a result of BRS pressure, implying it was a move to preempt a potential defeat for the ruling party in Jubilee Hills. Addressing the Chief Minister’s warning that a defeat in Jubilee Hills could halt welfare schemes, Yadav stated that citizens are well-aware of how to advocate for their rights should such benefits be withdrawn.
Echoing these sentiments, another BRS leader, Manne Krishank, accused the Chief Minister of attempting to mislead the residents of Jubilee Hills, much like he purportedly did with voters in the Cantonment constituency. Krishank drew a stark comparison: BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao showed solidarity with Maganti’s family after Gopinath’s death by fielding his wife in the by-election, whereas Revanth Reddy reportedly “deceived” Gaddar’s family by denying a ticket to his daughter Vennela for the Cantonment by-election.