How baiting CM Revanth Reddy proved costly for Telangana minister Konda Surekha

The Congress high command approved Surekha's removal from the state cabinet. Reddy must now fill three berths eyed by strong contendersA. Revanth Reddy’s leadership in Telangana has received an affirmation from the Congress high command just as he completed 1,000 days of chief ministership, with a go-ahead given to rid the cabinet of dissident minister Konda Surekha.Surekha, the Warangal East MLA and an OBC leader, was inducted as minister for endowments, forests and environment in December 2023 when the Congress assumed power in Telangana with a convincing victory over the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).A statement from the chief minister’s office on September 3 said Reddy had decided to drop Surekha from the council of ministers with immediate effect and that a recommendation to the effect had been sent to governor Shiv Pratap Shukla. The governor later approved the chief minister’s decision.Reddy and Surekha were in New Delhi the past couple of days, meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders. She had earlier met Kharge in Bengaluru as well. Surekha had made other last-ditch efforts too to save her ministership, such as a visit to Reddy’s home on August 28 for Rakshabandhan. Her fate sealed, Surekha shot back at Reddy on return to Hyderabad. “I was not even asked to resign, so how will I resign?” she told the media.Surekha’s frictions with Reddy had been evident for a while now. The rift widened following Reddy’s public statement in Parakala last month endorsing MLA Revuri Prakash Reddy’s candidature again from the constituency in the state elections in 2028.The announcement apparently miffed the Surekha camp since her daughter Susmita Patel is being projected by the minister and her husband Konda Murali, a former member of the legislative council, as the Congress candidate from Parakala in 2028.Parakala, located in Warangal district, was represented by Surekha in the legislative assembly in 2009-12.An upset Patel triggered a row by making caustic remarks against Reddy, which the party took seriously. Patel threw a challenge at the chief minister by stating she would contest from Parakala come what may, and dared that Prakash Reddy or “even Revanth Reddy’s grandfather” could contest against her.Revanth Reddy has been managing tall leaders in the party who were publicly opposed to his leadership, such as minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy. But objectionable statements from an inexperienced Susmita, and mother Surekha’s stance, against the chief minister’s authority were deemed as going too far.Compounding the situation, the Konda couple declined to condemn their daughter’s remarks, terming them as personal opinion of an adult. A show-cause notice was issued to Surekha on August 19. Unsatisfied with her version, the disciplinary panel of the state Congress recommended her removal from the cabinet.As the matter reached the Congress leadership in Delhi, Reddy maintained that the high command’s decision was final. Surekha, in a counter, demanded that Reddy too be served a show-cause notice for claiming that he would continue to be chief minister in the next term.At a media conference on September 3, Surekha accused Reddy of forcing the Congress high command to get her out of the cabinet. “The decision to oust me was taken without seeking my explanation,” said Surekha, who would continue as an MLA to “serve her constituency”.This isn’t Surekha’s first political face-off. A five-time MLA who has represented three assembly constituencies in the Warangal region (Shayampeta, Parakala and now Warangal East), she has had discordant associations in the past with the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) and BRS too.Elected in 2009 from Parakala in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Surekha joined the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) cabinet of the Congress government as minister for women development and child welfare. After YSR’s demise in 2009, she resigned and joined his son Jagan Mohan Reddy, who formed the YSRCP.Surekha quit the YSRCP in 2013 citing ill-treatment and joined the BRS. She was elected an MLA in 2014 from Warangal East. In 2018, she quit the BRS to rejoin the Congress.Another veteran, sulking Congress leader who Revanth Reddy disposed of is Chinna Reddy, a former minister in united Andhra Pradesh. The media release from the chief minister’s office said the appointment of Chinna Reddy as vice-chairman of the Telangana Planning Board stood rescinded with immediate effect. Chinna Reddy has been replaced in the post by Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, daughter of senior leader K. Keshava Rao.Reddy now has the task of filling three cabinet berths. Two of these have been vacant for far too long and have several strong contenders.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsPublished By: Akshita JollyPublished On: Sep 4, 2026 19:23 IST