Behind the News is your round-up of musings from the corridors of power. Read what goes on behind the scenes for news & newsmakers.
Published Oct 13, 2025 | 4:51 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 13, 2025 | 4:51 PM
Konda Surekha. (X)
The surest sign that the Congress party is alive, kicking, and very much in the pink of health is when dissidence erupts like lava from a hyperactive volcano. If there’s no noise, no quarrels, and no daggers drawn, something is definitely wrong — and perhaps it’s time to call in a doctor to check the party’s pulse.
This week’s episode of Congress vs Congress stars none other than Endowments Minister Konda Surekha, who fired off a fiery letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC in-charge for Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan, and even knocked on the door of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy himself.
Her complaint? That Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, who also happens to be the minister-in-charge of her home turf Warangal, has been throwing his weight around like a heavyweight champion in a featherweight contest.
The bone of contention — or shall we say, the crore of contention — is the work order for ₹71 crore issued by Ponguleti for development works of the ₹150-crore allocation sanctioned by the chief minister for the Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara in 2026. It is the biggest grant ever for the tribal festival that draws lakhs of devotees from across the country.
Konda Surekha has been fuming that while she holds the Endowments portfolio, it was Srinivasa Reddy who has been calling the shots. According to her, work contracts were handed over on a silver platter to one of Ponguleti’s close buddies, bypassing the department and apparently skipping a few pages of the procurement rulebook in the process.
She smells something fishy. “Is there no self-respect left in the district?” she asked, trying to rally her colleagues. Her gripe: that this was not coordination but invasion — an uninvited entry into her department’s temple turf.
Now, Konda Surekha and her husband, former MLC Konda Murali, are no strangers to the spotlight. They seem to have taken a lifetime subscription to political drama. Not long ago, six local Congress MLAs made a beeline to Gandhi Bhavan with a list of complaints against the fiery couple, accusing Surekha of “one-upmanship” — or as some put it, “up-womanship.”
Adding oil to the already blazing fire, Ponguleti — who was tasked with firefighting — ended up adding more fuel with his “overbearing” approach.
Konda’s faceoff with Ponguleti came days after a caste storm that hit the Congress corridors. Minister Ponnam Prabhakar’s alleged comparison of fellow minister Adluri Laxman Kumar, a Madiga leader, to a “buffalo” has left the leadership red-faced at at time when it was fighting backlash from BCs for its “inpet handlign” [sic] of BC reservations.
Ponnam swore on everything sacred that he never uttered the word — but then, in a twist worthy of political theatre, he went ahead and apologised anyway. This left many scratching their heads: if he didn’t say it, why say sorry? But Ponnam, ever the loyal soldier, shrugged it off — “Not guilty, but sorry anyway.” That’s Congress discipline for you: confess first, clarify later!
With letters flying, tempers flaring, and ministers sparring, Telangana Congress seems to be in a fine fettle. After all, in Congress culture, peace is not a virtue — it’s a symptom of decline.
So long as someone is sulking, someone else is writing to Delhi, and someone is apologising for something they didn’t say — the party’s heartbeat is strong. For now, the Congress is not just alive; it is alive and kicking up dust.
