No Entry For KCR Family Into Congress: CM

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy today said that the family members of BRS President and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao were the first enemies of Telangana, and that he would not allow any member of that family to join the Congress as long as he was in the party.

In an informal interaction with media persons in New Delhi, the Chief Minister was responding to speculation that BRS MLC K Kavitha would enter the Congress. He denounced all such rumours, and also criticised her political style, likening it to the melodrama of the film Assembly Rowdy.

Reddy also said that only the portfolios currently under his charge would be allocated to the three new ministers, implying that there would be no reshuffling of existing ministerial portfolios.

"I came to Delhi solely to provide details about the successful caste census conducted in Telangana and Karnataka. I will assign portfolios to new ministers upon returning to Hyderabad - only those that I currently oversee," he said.

He also said that social justice had been upheld in the Telangana cabinet expansion, with 55% of posts filled by MLAs from the SCs, STs and backward classes, in proportion to the representation of those communities in the population.

Speculation is now rife over which departments Reddy will relinquish, and particularly if he would relinquish the Home Ministry.

The CM also took the opportunity to once again slam the opposition parties. Targeting Union minister G Kishan Reddy, Reddy accused him of obstructing Telangana's development at the behest of BRS working president K T Rama Rao. He claimed that Kishan Reddy had never held a single review meeting on Telangana's development, and had stalled key projects, including the Regional Ring Road.

The CM asked whether Kishan Reddy had ever submitted a report on Telangana's projects to Prime Minister Narendra Modi or advocated for initiatives concerning the State. He also asked whether the Union minister had ever raised Telangana-related issues in the Union Cabinet.

He also spoke about naxalism and Operation Kagar, and said, "As long as social disparities exist, naxalism will persist. It can never be fully eradicated. Even if it has waned now, it will resurface in new forms."