Hyderabad: The power tussle within Telangana’s ruling Congress intensified, further exposing the rift between Telangana Endowments & Forest Minister Konda Surekha’s family and other leaders, including Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy.
There was high drama as police in plain clothes arrived at the residence of Surekha’s Jubilee Hills residence looking for her former aide N Sumanth, who had been sacked a day earlier following allegations of corruption.
After the arrival of police, a special team that works directly under the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, the minister’s daughter Konda Susmita accused chief minister Revanth Reddy’s office of targeting her family by forcing Sumanth to say on record that her father, Konda Murali, had ordered the extortion.
“My mother and father are being targeted by the state government. My mother is a minister, and look how they’re treating us. We don’t understand what we’ve done wrong. There are murder attempts on us, and this is a murder attempt,” Susmita told reporters.
The minister’s daughter confronted the police, challenging any attempt to take Sumanth into custody without a warrant. She alleged that the party was targeting a minister from the backward classes, even as senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi campaigned in support of OBCs.
Sumanth, who was office on special duty (OSD) to Warangal (East) legislator and influential OBC leader Surekha, faces allegations of trying to extort money at gun point from an official of Deccan Cements Pvt. Ltd.
The removal and attempted arrest of Sumanth are being seen as a fallout of differences between Surekha and Srinivas Reddy over a Rs 71-crore contract for Medaram Jatara works. Surekha had complained to the party leadership that Reddy was getting involved in her department.