Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Sunday said the state Legislative Assembly will be convened in September and publicly challenged BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao—who has largely stayed away from the legislature since December 2023—to be present for the sitting and debate welfare and development issues.
Challenge to BRS leadership
Addressing a public meeting at Parkala near Warangal, the Chief Minister urged the former chief minister to use the Assembly as a forum to discuss the policies and programmes pursued during the BRS decade in power. Reddy noted that other BRS figures, including working president K T Rama Rao and MLA T Harish Rao, had frequently called for the House to be summoned.
“Chandrasekhar Rao, who has 40 years of experience and served as chief minister and union minister, should attend the Assembly session. He should discuss welfare and development that took place during his 10-year-long rule,”
Reddy framed his challenge as an invitation for political accountability and debate over the record of the previous administration, while insisting the legislature is the appropriate venue for such discussions.
Fiscal claims and governance narrative
The Chief Minister cited the state’s debt burden as a central plank of his criticism of the earlier regime. According to Reddy, the Congress administration inherited a fiscal legacy that he characterised as a substantial debt load.
He said the state is currently servicing an annual repayment obligation of ₹75,000 crore towards principal and interest on that debt, contrasting it with pre-2014 figures when, he said, the annual payment was about ₹6,500 crore. Reddy referred to the accumulated liabilities as an “₹8.11 lakh crore debt burden”, saying these numbers must feature in legislative discussion.
Personal attacks and family disputes
In a sharp criticism of K T Rama Rao, the Chief Minister recounted an alleged family dispute involving Rama Rao and his sister, TRS president K Kavitha, and raised questions about the younger leader’s suitability to represent women voters in the state. Reddy suggested that the conduct in a private family matter reflected on public responsibilities.
He argued that a leader who, he alleged, failed to ensure a fair settlement for his sister could not be relied upon to safeguard the interests of Telangana’s women at large. The remarks formed part of a pointed political narrative aimed at contrasting the present government’s record with the conduct and priorities of the main opposition.
Employment and recruitment criticism
Reddy also criticised the BRS for allegedly failing to create jobs while in office. He accused the previous administration of irregularities in recruitment, saying question papers were improperly sold and offering the current government’s record of filling vacancies as a counterpoint. He said the Congress government had filled 70,000 vacancies since it took office.
- Assembly session: to be convened in September, per the Chief Minister.
- Debt servicing: state reportedly pays ₹75,000 crore annually; pre-2014 payments cited as ₹6,500 crore.
- Vacancies filled: Government claims 70,000 positions have been staffed since taking office.
Context and potential implications
The Chief Minister’s public provocation comes amid sustained political tussles between the ruling Congress and the BRS, which lost power at the end of 2023. Calling the Assembly aims both to project the government’s willingness to debate issues in a constitutional forum and to put the opposition on the defensive if its senior leader stays away again.
If K Chandrasekhar Rao chooses to attend, the September session could see heightened scrutiny of the BRS decade and extended exchanges over fiscal management, welfare schemes and recruitment processes. If he remains absent, the episode may reinforce the government’s contention that the opposition prefers extra-parliamentary confrontation.
| Item | Figure cited by CM |
|---|---|
| Annual debt servicing | ₹75,000 crore |
| Annual payment before 2014 (claimed) | ₹6,500 crore |
| Alleged total debt burden | ₹8.11 lakh crore |
| Vacancies filled since current government took office | 70,000 |
Reddy also sought to cultivate a personal image of diligence, saying he had not taken leave for more than three days in the 32 months since becoming Chief Minister. He invoked familial language in referring to Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka as like a sister.
The September summons to the Assembly will test the capacity of both ruling and opposition leaderships to engage in legislative debate on contentious issues ranging from fiscal management to recruitment and welfare delivery. The coming weeks are likely to feature intensified political exchanges as parties position themselves ahead of the session.
Details of the precise dates, agenda and duration of the September sitting are yet to be announced by the Speaker’s office.
