‘End BRS Politics’

■ Revanth Reddy Targets KCR Family in Sircilla

■ Vows to Transform Handloom Hub

metro india news I Sircilla

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime and the Kalvakuntla family, accusing them of turning the historic handloom town of Sircilla into a place of distress while amassing unexplained wealth.

Addressing a public meeting, the Chief Minister contrasted the Congress government’s welfare measures with what he described as a decade of neglect, exploitation and broken promises under K. Chandrashekar Rao and his son K.T. Rama Rao.“Sircilla means the abode of prosperity. But the decisions taken during BRS rule reduced it to a place of ruin,” Revanth Reddy said. 

He recalled that human civilisation began with clothing and that Sircilla has long been a genuine centre for handloom workers and artisans, renowned for weaving sarees so fine they can fit into a matchbox.

During the Telangana movement, leaders such as Paparao and K.K. Mahender Reddy had worked for the town’s development. Instead, he charged, KCR and KTR entered the political scene “like poisonous snakes entering an anthill” and looted the region on a massive scale.The Chief Minister zeroed in on KTR’s 2009 election victory in Sircilla by a margin of just 172 votes. “After that, using power as a shield, they accumulated assets worth lakhs of crores.

How did the son of a Dubai passport broker, who washed dishes in America and cleaned plates in hotels, acquire such wealth?” he asked. Despite winning the seat multiple times, weaver suicides never stopped and migration to Gulf countries continued unabated, he noted. “People who held power for so many years must answer what they did for Sircilla’s people.”Revanth Reddy said the Congress government had already begun addressing the hardships of migrant workers. 

Leaders Adi Srinivas and Eravarti Anil had repeatedly raised the issue, prompting the state to introduce a special policy that provides Rs 5 lakh assistance to each affected family. He accused KCR of abandoning the people of Karimnagar after they helped elect him in 2004, 2006 and 2008, shifting to Mahbubnagar in 2009, and later abandoning those voters as well to contest from Gajwel after statehood.The Chief Minister alleged large-scale sand mining from the Manair river and police excesses against Dalits in the Neredcherla incident, including electric shocks, which he linked to KCR’s relative Santosh.

He claimed that when families lost homes due to the Mid-Manair project, houses were allotted in the names of Santosh’s family members who later showed white ration cards before acquiring crores in assets. “One looted Godavari waters, another looted Manair sand, and yet another joined hands with Andhra businessmen in Hyderabad to grab thousands of crores and vast lands,” he said. Handloom workers, toddy tappers and farmers were promised support but ultimately “drowned in the Godavari.”

Revanth Reddy accused KCR of failing to release even a single rupee for the Vemulawada Rajarajeshwara and Bhadrachalam temples after promising funds in 2014, despite having the audacity to place the sacred ‘shatagopam’ on the deities. In contrast, he said the Congress government had spent Rs 1,730 crore on handloom workers in just two-and-a-half years, compared with Rs 2,000 crore claimed by BRS over a full decade. 

Vemulawada received Rs 1,500 crore, along with a Young India school, MRO offices and a women’s police station. Farmers were supported through loan waivers and Rythu Bharosa.Mocking KTR’s political experience, the Chief Minister said: “What does a crow chick know of an eagle’s strike? KTR, who washed plates in American hotels, should ask his father about the blow Congress workers delivered in 2023.”

He claimed Congress had already defeated BRS in Gajwel and that workers in Sircilla would now fire like cannons. During his padayatra, he said, a clear desire for change was visible in people’s eyes. Revanth Reddy urged Congress state president Mahesh Kumar Goud to ensure a Padmashali candidate is fielded in the upcoming MLC elections and that the Sircilla MLA is made a minister if the party wins. 

He contrasted the BRS era, when votes in Sircilla allegedly brought “green notes” to the Kalvakuntla family and posts to relatives such as Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Santosh Rao, with Congress appointments of BC leader Gadwal Vijayalakshmi as Planning Commission vice-chairperson and Telangana activist Vijayashanti as MLC. He highlighted the Revanth-Mahesh combination working for public welfare, in contrast to the earlier YS-DS pairing.

Listing unfulfilled BRS promises—a Dalit chief minister, three acres of land for Dalits, free education from KG to PG and a job in every home—Revanth Reddy said the family instead expanded its farmhouses and assets. “You completed your farmhouses and Pragathi Bhavan on time. Why not the double-bedroom houses for the poor? You call me a ribbon-cutting CM, but I am completing the works you never did.” He alleged that BRS leaders took commissions even on Bathukamma sarees and that ration cards, fine rice and timely salaries for government employees were denied under their rule.

The Chief Minister challenged KTR to a debate in the Assembly on what each government had delivered, dismissing “useless white papers.” He pointed to free bus travel for women, with Minister Ponnams Prabhakar releasing Rs 12,000 crore to RTC over two-and-a-half years. Women were wearing Congress-distributed sarees during festivals, he said, while earlier pale-coloured ones were used to scare birds in fields. The government had already filled 75,000 jobs and was moving a debt-ridden, devastated Telangana towards development.

Revanth Reddy noted key posts given to the mother of Telangana martyr Srikantachari, the granddaughter of Chakali Ailamma and Neredcherla victim Sharada, underscoring priority for women, BCs and Dalits. He asked Sircilla voters whether they wanted to return to the era of “gadis and the stone age” or move forward with a people’s Telangana. Accusing KCR of staying away from the Assembly because a Dalit Speaker must be addressed as “Adhyaksha,” and of failing to condemn remarks against the Dalit Speaker, he said Dalits may endure hunger but not humiliation.

He demanded that KTR release a white paper on his assets and those of KCR, Harish Rao and Santosh Rao, listing farmhouses in Janwada, Shankarpally, Moinabad and Erravalli, along with investments in Deccan Serai, At Home Service apartments, nearly 400 hotel rooms near Hitech City, and holdings in America and Singapore. “Sircilla people’s lives have not changed much, while a few lives have changed unimaginably. Think about how,” he said.

Promising that a Congress victory in Sircilla would bring a ministerial berth for the local candidate and personal commitment to improving lives, Revanth Reddy declared: “BRS, KCR and KTR are your past. From now on it is all Congress, all the tricolour flag. Congress will be in power from 2024 to 2034. I take the responsibility of developing Sircilla. With Neredcherla victims as witnesses, the people of Sircilla are ready to end BRS politics.”