Hyderabad, Dec 31 (IANS) From phone-tapping allegations to demolition of actor Nagarjuna’s convention centre and from a Telangana minister’s offensive comments on Naga Chaitanya-Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s divorce to the arrest of actor Allu Arjun for a stampede at a theatre, controversies dominated 2024 in Telangana.
The Congress government’s efforts to deliver on its poll promises, the Opposition’s tirade over the government’s failures, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s struggle to bounce back after drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha elections and defections of its ten MLAs marked the year.
The arrest of BRS leader K. Kavitha by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy case, arrest of three serving and a retired police official on allegation of phone tapping during the BRS rule, probe into some of the alleged scams during the previous regime were among the key developments that made headlines during the year.
The Congress government, which was only a few days old when it entered 2024, got down to work.
Opposition BRS and BJP targeted it for going back on its poll promises including six guarantees, but the ruling party cited the Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha elections which had come into effect in March for the delay in implementation.
After losing power late last year, the BRS suffered humiliation as it failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat.
With eight seats each, the Congress and BJP shared the honours while the AIMIM retained Hyderabad.
Making big inroads into the BRS strongholds, the BJP doubled its 2019 tally. The saffron party also finished runner-up in six other constituencies. This is BJP’s best-ever performance in the state. The BJP, which won four seats in 2019 with a vote share of 19.5 per cent, improved its vote share to 35.08 per cent. This was a huge gain for the saffron party, which had polled 13.90 per cent votes in the November 2023 Assembly elections and won eight seats in the 119-member Assembly.
The Congress party, which was hoping to win 10-12 seats, could win only eight. The ruling party suffered defeat in not only Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s home district Mahabubnagar but also lost Malkajgiri, from where Revanth Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha in the previous elections.
The Congress, which bagged three Lok Sabha seats in 2019 with a 30.2 per cent vote share, also increased its vote share to 40.10 per cent.
In Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress party won 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly, with a 39.40 per cent vote share.
The BRS, which suffered its worst-ever defeat since its inception in 2001, failed to retain a single out of nine Lok Sabha seats it won in 2019.
The KCR-led party, which had won 39 Assembly seats with a 37.35 per cent vote share, saw its vote share plummet to 16.68 per cent.
The party, which ruled the state for 10 years, suffered a series of setbacks with defection of several key leaders including 10 MLAs to the Congress party.
The year began on a bad note for the Opposition party as it lost its young MLA from Secunderabad Cantonment G. Lasya Nanditha in a road accident.
In the bye-elections held in May along with Lok Sabha polls, the BRS lost the seat to the Congress.
Ever since losing power, former chief minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has not stepped into the Assembly.
Frequent challenges thrown by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the ruling party failed to bring the Leader of Opposition to the House.
Barring the Lok Sabha campaign, KCR was rarely seen in public, leaving the field for his son and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and nephew and senior leader T. Harish Rao.
KCR received a major setback in March with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting his daughter and BRS MLC K. Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy case. While she was in judicial custody the Central Bureau of Investigation (ACB) also got the court’s approval to arrest her.
Kavitha, also a former MP, was released from Tihar Jail after more than five months when the Supreme Court granted her bail.
Towards the end of the year, there was more trouble for KCR’s family as the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered a case against K.T. Rama Rao for alleged irregularities in the conduct of Formula-E car race in Hyderabad last year when the BRS was in power.
With Governor Jishnu Dev Varma granting permission for the prosecution of K.T. Rama Rao, the ACB registered the First Information Report (FIR) under the Prevention of Corruption Act, naming K.T. Rama Rao as the accused number one.
The allegations centre around payment of over Rs.54.88 crore to UK-based Formula-E Operations Limited (FEO) and others in gross violation of established procedures.
Denying the allegation of corruption, KTR maintained that the Formula-E race was organised with the aim to make Telangana the hub of Electric Vehicles.
After the FIR booked by the ACB, the ED was also quick to enter the scene by registering an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
After Kavitha and K.T. Rama Rao, the BRS chief himself and his nephew and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao appear to be on the radar of the state government.
Their role in alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project may come under the scanner of the Justice Ghose Commission investigating the case.
The Commission, which is in the final stage of its probe, is likely to summon them to record their statements regarding allegations of cost escalation in the project and poor maintenance of the three barrages that suffered damages due to inadequate operational protocols.
A few weeks after assuming office, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had ordered two judicial enquiries – one into the alleged irregularities in the execution of Kaleshwaram and the second into Bhadradri and Yadadri thermal power projects and power purchase agreement with the Chhattisgarh government.
The Commission of Inquiry headed by former Supreme Court judge M.B. Lokur, which probed thermal power plants and power purchase agreement, submitted the report in October.
The Commission’s report is yet to be made public but is understood to have faulted the previous government and the decision-makers in its report both on the execution of the two power projects and the power purchase agreement.
In March the state was rocked by allegations of phone tapping during the previous BRS regime.
The arrest of Praneeth Rao, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) revealed that then chief of SIB, T. Prabhakar Rao had allegedly constituted a team for surveillance of rival political leaders, their families and dissidents within the ruling party, businessmen, journalists and even judges.
Additional SPs Thirupathanna and Bhujanga Rao and former DCP P. Radha Kishan Rao were also arrested. The police initiated the process to bring back Prabhakar Rao and managing director of a private news channel Sravan Kumar from the United States.
The police also questioned former MLAs Jaipal Yadav and Chirumarthi Lingaiah of BRS in the case. As providing jobs by filling vacancies in government departments was a key promise, the Revanth Reddy-led government reconstituted Telangana State Public Service Commission, which conducted exams to fill vacancies under different categories.
In February, notification was for the Mega District Selection Committee (DSC) to fill the posts of 11,062 teachers. The Congress government claimed that over 55,000 government jobs were provided for youth in a single year but the BRS disputed this and alleged that the government merely handed over appointment letters to those who were already selected in recruitment process during the BRS rule.
After launching free travel facility for women in TSRTC buses within two days after coming to power last year, the government invited applications from eligible BPL families for implementing six guarantees. A total of 1.05 crore applications were received across the state during ‘Praja Palana.’
The government implemented a few more promises including farm loan waiver up to Rs.2 lakh, 200 units of free electricity to each household and cooking gas cylinder for Rs.500 for BPL families.
The government claimed it waived farm loans of 25 lakh farmers by crediting over Rs 21,000 crore directly into their accounts, implemented the promise of Rs. 500 bonus per quintal for fine variety of rice above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and ensured free 24/7 electricity for farmers.
The Opposition parties disputed all claims. The government also established Young India Integrated Residential Schools and launched Young India Skill University and Young India Sports University.
The government also undertook social, economic, education, employment, political and caste survey. The installation of ‘Telangana Talli’ (Mother Telangana) statue in the State Secretariat this month sparked a huge controversy.
It was one of the steps by Revanth Reddy to erase KCR’s legacy and leave his own mark. He changed the state’s abbreviation from ‘TS’ to ‘TG’ and also adopted ‘Jaya Jaya He Telangana’ as the state’s official song.
However, the re-designing of ‘Telangana Talli’ irked BRS, which termed it ‘Congress Talli’ and an insult to Telangana identity.
The omission of Bathukamma, the floral festival celebrated by Telangana women, from Telangana Talli angered BRS. This also provided an opportunity to BRS to build a narrative around the state’s cultural identity.
The demolitions carried out by the newly-created Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to reclaim the encroached land of water bodies in and around Hyderabad also sparked a major row.
The buildings demolished by HYDRAA included the N-Convention Centre owned by popular actor Nagarjuna in Madhapur. The property had been under scrutiny for years following allegations that it was constructed in the Full Tank Level (FTL) area and buffer zone of the Thammidikunta Lake.
The N-Convention Centre had allegedly encroached upon 1.12 acres of the FTL area and an additional 2 acres within the buffer zone.
Nagarjuna denied the allegations. Nagarjuna’s family found itself in another row with State Forest Minister Konda Surekha blaming KTR for divorce of actors Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
Naga Chaitanya’s father Nagarjuna filed a defamation case against the minister saying her remarks harmed the dignity and reputation of his family.
KTR also filed a separate defamation case against the minister.
Tollywood found itself at the centre of another huge controversy this month when actor Allu Arjun was arrested over the death of a woman in the stampede at Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad during the premier show of his movie ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’.
The actor along with his team and theatre management were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Allu Arjun landed in more trouble by calling a press conference to respond to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s statement in the Assembly, blaming the actor for the incident by visiting the theatre despite denial of police permission and doing ‘roadshows’ while entering and exiting the theatre.
The actor termed allegations against him false and said they were aimed at his character assassination. As the row threatened to strain ties between Tollywood and the state government, a group of representatives from the industry met the Chief Minister to mend fences while the latter also clarified that he has no intention to target anyone.
–IANS
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