It does not seem like the political storm that has swept up former minister Etala Rajender will subside soon.
The leader and his supporters have both attracted the ire of Telangana's ruling party, the TRS, for their comments criticising Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's decision to dismiss Rajender from the post of Health Minister after allegations of his involvement in land grabbing surfaced some days ago.
Today, a close aide of the former minister, Veenavanka ZPTC official M Vanamala Sadavareddy, received a notice from the Karimnagar District Cooperative Central Bank.
In the notice, the bank authorities alleged that Sadavareddy had misused Rs 18 lakh while working at the establishment. However, reports say that the official is yet to respond to the notice.
The timing of the bank's notice has raised many eyebrows since Sadavareddy has been working closely with Rajender for the past few days. This has left many feeling that the aide was targeted simply for being a close supporter the former minister.
As it is, there are many people in Telangana who remain unconvinced by the allegations made against Rajender, especially since he has, so far, had a spotless two-decade-long political career.
Even veteran Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao had
hinted that the former minister's "open criticism" of the BJP-led union government some days back was the main reason behind KCR's "swift reaction" to the allegations made against him.