The feud between Telangana’s ruling Congress and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi escalated Wednesday after Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and KT Rama Rao exchanged ugly insults.
In a post on X Mr Rao referred to the Chief Minister as a “mad dog” that had “crossed every single limit of decency”. He said, “… I request his family members to take him to some mental health facility at the earliest or else, in his frustrated state, he might start biting everyone…”
The attack came after Mr Reddy’s own crude comment at a public event in Hyderabad to hand job offers to 1,500 teachers – “‘those talking of stature will be sent on a stretcher to the morgue”. The reference was to BRS boss and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, or KCR.
The exchange followed Mr Rao’s comment Tuesday that KCR, who is also his father, would not attend the budget session of the Assembly since none in the Congress can match his ‘stature’.
This mad dog has crossed every single limit of decency
I request his family members to take him to some mental health facility at the earliest or else in his frustrated state, he might start biting everyone around
Get well soon #CheapMinister https://t.co/pL24i5dWxd
— KTR (@KTRBRS) March 12, 2025
Mr Rao’s remark also prompted a fierce reply about ‘stature’ being the preserve of prime ministers, chief ministers, and other elected representatives, and not for individuals.
KCR was the first Chief Minister of independent Telangana, a position he held for nine years before a surprise defeat to the Congress in the 2023 election. He did, however, manage to retain his seat in the Assembly; he won his Gajwel stronghold in Siddik district for a third straight time.
The bad blood between the Congress and the BRS was also in evidence this week over the arrest of two women journalists – Pulse News Managing Director P Revathi and reporter Tanvi Yadav – for posting allegedly derogatory comments about the Chief Minister on social media.
A third individual – the user of an X account titled ‘NippuKodi’ – was also arrested.
READ | 2 Women Journalists Arrested For Revanth Reddy Post, BRS Protests
Additional Commissioner of Police CP Vishwa Rao told reporters there is a “pattern” by the news channel, “wherein they provide financial incentives to gullible citizens and record them (making derogatory comments)”.
The arrests were condemned by KT Rama Rao, who accused Revanth Reddy and the Congress of being “intolerant of criticism” and an “extreme level of intolerance”.
“It feels like a state of Emergency’ has returned in Telangana…” he declared in the first of two X posts. The second targeted Congress MP and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Incidentally, Ms Revathi was arrested in a similar manner when the BRS was in power.
With input from agencies
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