Harish Rao Accuses Revanth Reddy of Targeted Attacks to Deflect Scam Allegations

Senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and Deputy Floor Leader in the Assembly T. Harish Rao on Monday accused Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of targeting him personally through character assassination and political victimisation in Hyderabad, stating that the Chief Minister was unable to answer allegations of government scams backed by evidence.

Speaking to mediapersons in Hyderabad, Mr. Harish Rao said that he was being targeted every three months with various issues. He noted that the history of Mr. Revanth Reddy had been revealed publicly by Congress leaders Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and G. Chinna Reddy, as well as defectors such as Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Addressing remarks regarding his visits to temples in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Mr. Harish Rao maintained that visiting temples and offering prayers had been his practice from the beginning, while accusing Mr. Revanth Reddy of playing politics in the name of God. He challenged the Chief Minister to name him directly and present evidence if there was any proof of him performing tantric rituals in those temples, alleging that Mr. Reddy avoided taking his name out of apprehension over legal notices.

Responding to the Chief Minister's comparison of him to a matchbox, Mr. Harish Rao remarked that Mr. Revanth Reddy had no moral right to speak on the Telangana Statehood movement. Mr. Harish Rao highlighted his own participation in the agitation, noting that he had faced 370 cases and gone to jail multiple times, whereas Mr. Reddy had no association with the Statehood movement and had refrained from raising the ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan out of respect for his political masters of Andhra.

Mr. Harish Rao also raised concerns over the inclusion of large extents of land under the prohibited list under Section 22-A. He alleged that lands, including those removed from Land Ceiling Act provisions, were placed on the prohibited list with the objective of taking commissions for regularisation. He demanded that the government make public the complete list of lands added to the 22-A prohibited list since December 7, 2023.

Criticising the Congress administration for welfare rollbacks, Mr. Harish Rao stated that schemes such as Rythu Bima, Kalyana Lakshmi/Shadi Mubarak, and Dalit Bandhu had been discontinued, while Rythu Bandhu/Bharosa had been pruned. He questioned the decline in the number of Kalyana Lakshmi beneficiaries and stated that the government had denied ₹19,000 crore under Rythu Bharosa across 2024-25 and 2025-26. He added that the previous BRS government disbursed ₹14,743 crore under Rythu Bandhu in 2022-23, compared to ₹5,057 crore released by the Congress government in 2024-25 and ₹11,800 crore in 2025-26.